Lost & Found
by Jay-Jay12393
Summary: On the night of his fifth birthday, Naruto is abducted from the safety of his newly acquired apartment. Weeks after his tenth birthday he's found in the forest, beaten and weary. What happened during that lost time? The answer to the question will be revealed in time.
1. The Return

**I would first like to thank everyone that's going to read this story and hope that you review in the end.**

**Now I've been working on this story, and another, for a while now, using my phone as a rough draft. The only reason I haven't entered the story into the site before was because of two reasons. 1, the computer's monitor has been in a real bitchy mood, and I don't think its going to exit said mood for a long time. And 2, I wanted to upload it on a very special day, today, my BIRTHDAY! YAY!**

**Alright now that I got that out of the way, lets get this party started.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, plain and simple._

**Lost & Found Chapter One: The Return**

**[Konoha Forest]**

The forest was a large place that covered most of Fire Country. If you didn't know your way around the dense area, then it would be easy for you to get lost in the vast space it occupies.

Naturally shinobi ranked Chunin and up had excellent knowledge of said forest, from their experience in traveling through it so many times.

The point I'm trying to make is that, the percentage of Konoha's Elite ANBU getting lost was absolute zero. Currently the four man squad were doing another routine rescue sweep, in search of their village's lost blonde Jinchuriki.

This had been their, and many others, job for the past five years. Personally, they only get the 'shift' two nights every two months, or so. It all depended if they were on a mission or not.

Fortune must have been watching over them tonight, because after five long years they found him stumbling his way into their line of sight.

This surprised them immensely, because they had given up all hope of finding the young boy. Said blonde was now ten years old and was covered in dirt.

"We found him, we finally found him and he's actually alive." the elite with the frog mask said, filled with joy.

"I know." the female, wearing the cat mask, agreed. "Now Hokage-sama can rest easy knowing the boy is safe." she added with a sigh.

The leader of the group narrowed his eyes at the walking blonde below them. "Wait, something's wrong with him." the snake masked leader said.

"I noticed that as well. The boy is clearly injured." the last squad member, Hawk, informed with an inward grimace.

Below the group of four was the source of their concerns. Said blonde was limping, and simultaneously holding his right, dislocated, shoulder. His name was Naruto Uzumaki, the container of the Kyuubi no Yoko and the bane of more than fifty five percent of the villagers.

He had lightly tanned skin and three whisker marks lining each cheek. His blonde hair was barely visible under all the mud and dried blood that covered it.

His clothing consisted of a ragged white shirt. The shirt itself couldn't even be called a shirt. Its condition allowed it to barely cling onto the child's useless arm.

His arms were wrapped with white tape. The tape covered both of the boy's arm, entirely, from the fingers all the way to the shoulder. Unfortunately some of the tape had cuts through them and were dyed red with blood.

If you were to look closely enough you would be able to see the faint cuts that marked his lightly tanned skin.

His black pants were in relatively good shape. Some of its material was sliced open, but an average tailor would have no problem repairing the piece of garment.

His feet were bare. He must have been walking for some time because his feet had calluses lining the outside of his soles.

He checked behind him, most likely checking that he was safe. Someone must have been chasing him for sometime, because there seemed to be fear in his young eyes. Well, whoever it was seemed to have lost interest, because no one was behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief before he took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do.

The squad narrowed their eyes at the blonde, not sure what was about to happen.

The sound of grinding bones was drowned out by the blonde's scream, which resonated throughout the forest. The piercing scream woke the sleeping animals and caused them to scramble in fear.

Naruto wobbled on his feet before he dropped to his knees and then, fully, to the floor. It was clear from his unmoving body that he was out cold from the shock.

Cat looked on with obvious womanly worries. Even though she was worried about the blonde, she kept her composure strictly professional. "What do you think happened to him?" she asked not able to keep from wincing from the piercing scream.

"It doesn't matter, we have to take him to the village, preferably to the hospital." Snake said after he and the others landed on the ground.

**[L&F]**

Thirty minutes later the team escorted the unconscious blonde into the village.

The old Hokage sighed in depression as he signed another document and stamped it with the Hokage seal. It was a regular mission request from some farmer that needed a team to escort him back to his lodgings. The house was located at the edge of the country, near River Country. Just the fact that point B was near a country that they had a rocky relationship with, made him label the mission as a B-rank.

His muscles tensed as he sensed chakra entering the room, via body flicker. He raised his head and relaxed when he noticed it was two members of the squad he sent on the rescue sweep, not even an hour ago.

"Why is it that you've returned so soon?" the wrinkled Sandaime questioned returning his gaze back to the late night paperwork.

The leader of the squad dropped to a single knee before speaking. "Apologies Hokage-sama, but the mission is no longer necessary." he said prompting the old man to snap his head back up, anger clear in his eyes.

"What the hell do you mean, 'no longer necessary'? You have five seconds to rephrase yourself." the old man said with pure anger dripping from his voice.

It was at that moment that the leader of the ANBU squad tensed in fear as the Hokage's KI flooded his nervous system. He resisted the urge to drop to his knees and gasp for air, with sheer willpower.

"What he wanted to say, was that we found Naruto-kun." Frog spoke up, prompting the elder to release the KI in a quick heartbeat.

"That's who the others took to the hospital?" the Sandaime asked, having sensed them not too long ago. "If that's the case, what are we still doing here?" he said standing to his feet.

His gaze returned back to Snake, his eyes apologetic for his rash behavior. "No need to apologize Hokage-sama. It was my fault, I worded his return wrong."

Sarutobi smiled softly as his visage steeled itself before the trio used the Shunshin to quickly travel to the hospital.

**[L&F]**

When the Hokage and company arrived at the hospital, he had to refrain himself from cringing at Naruto's state, as he was being carted off to a vacant room.

He waited for thirty, anxious, minutes as they worked on the blonde. He got the green light to enter by the doctor that worked on the blonde.

He looked at the boy and, again couldn't refrain from cringing at Naruto's state. The boy looked like a mummy, with the amount of gauze wrapped around his upper body. "Was the damage really that extensive?" the old man questioned.

The male doctor shook his head. "Not at all, the only serious damages on his person was his right shoulder and left ankle. Luckily the shoulder was only dislocated and not broken. We took a look at it and found the area was heavily bruised with a few cuts on and around it." he said looking at the sheet held by his clipboard. "His ankle was in the same condition as his shoulder, only minus the cuts."

Sarutobi looked over the boy's body with aged eyes. His eyes narrowed when he noticed some qualities that many shinobi shared.

Judging from his face only, his muscle quality was higher than most children his age, and even some of the younger ninjas in his charge. It was the same with his chakra capacity, but that wasn't a surprise considering what was sealed inside. "Eagle, I need you to get Inoichi and bring him here." he ordered without lifting his eyes from Naruto's frame.

Eagle nodded his head and swiftly left the room in a leafless body flicker. The other ANBU knew they were longer needed, visually, so they vanished from sight, yet remained in the room.

"I noticed while he was being carted off that he had both of his arms bandaged already. Was he already treated before coming here?" Hiruzen said, finally lifting his head and looking at the doctor.

The man shook his head, "No, there were cuts along the tape as well. It must have been in place before he was attacked." the doctor said glancing at the clipboard. "When we removed the tape, we found nothing under them except faint traces of red lines. Its obvious he was attacked with some sort of manmade weapon, most likely a sword or knife." he added, already knowing what the Hokage was going to ask.

It was at that time that his ANBU returned, Inoichi in tow. The tall, pale blonde haired, man half asleep. It wasn't surprising since it was almost two in the morning. He was wearing a simple white shirt with simple blue sweat pants. His pupil-less green eyes were half lidded, further showing his exhausted state.

"Great, Inoichi, you're here. Sorry for waking you, but I need your mind walking expertise. Naruto's been gone for five years, I want to know what he's been through." the Sandaime informed the Yamanaka clan head, not at all concerned about invading Naruto's personal space.

"Uhh, don't you think walking into the mind of a Jinchuriki is beyond suicide?" Inoichi asked, not up for the mission at all.

The Hokage looked at the man in such a way that it immediately woke the man up and replaced the exhaustion with fear. "What I meant to say was, I'll get right to it Hokage-sama." the man said walking up to Naruto and placing his hand atop his head. His grave was already dug, now it was up to the Kyuubi if he was going to be buried inside.

**[Inside Naruto's Mind]**

The Yamanaka found himself in a jungle-like area. His hand was resting against the hard bark of an oak tree. He pushed off, already on edge as further ahead was where he would likely meet his end.

Speaking of further ahead, it looked as if it was swallowed in smoke. Inoichi could barely see where he was going. "Hello!? Anyone in here!?" he asked already knowing that his presence was sensed as soon as he entered the area. There was no use in hiding that he was here.

"Hello? Who's there!?" a replied was yelled back.

His fatherly instincts kicked in, because the voice sounded young and feminine, just like his own daughter.

He ran, deeper into the foggy area. He could now here sobbing and picked up his pace, now running in a sprint.

He skid to a stop as he entered a clear area. What entered his sights was that of a crimson haired teenager wearing a skimpy outfit. Said outfit consisted of a black bra with red flames, which covered a nice full pair of C-cup breast. For bottoms, she was wearing a pair of spandex styled booty shorts. A silver belt was wrapped, loosely, around her waist. Around her neck was a white and red, fluffy looking, scarf.

Light pink spandex socks hiked up her legs. They only left two inches of actual skin visible, for her lower body. She wore white boots with the same red flames flaring on the bottom of the soles.

Her crimson hair was really long for someone her age. It was fixed into a really long ponytail, held together by two long golden pins, that crisscrossed each other. She wore a cracked skull accessory in her hair and her amber eyes looked innocently at the grown man.

She wore black gloves, with several gold studs surrounding her thick wrists. Also the left was quite longer, reaching the middle of her left bicep. Her beautiful amber eyes darkened into a crimson color before she vanished from her spot, disappearing into the surrounding smoke.

This happened in a span of five seconds, not even enough time for Inoichi to say anything. "Looks like there's another idiot strutting in here like he owns the place. I let the first one live, I wont make the same mistake again." she said, her voice echoing throughout the area.

"Wait, I come in peace!" Inoichi quickly yelled. "I only came in here to see Naruto-kun." he added showing that he didn't have any ill will towards the young Jinchuriki.

Moments passed by in silence. The fact that he wasn't dead yet, proved that it was a good thing. That fact ended as Inoichi's ponytail suddenly exploded, simply coming undone. The man tensed, not sure if he should run or stay still.

A loud sigh echoed through the smoke, "That was a warning. Leave now, or the next one goes in your neck." the voice said again, a strong hint of annoyance in her voice.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, the Yamanaka clan head immediately followed the order. He knew the girl was the Kyuubi, guarding his mind from invaders. The question that plagued his mind though was, where was Naruto?

A full minute came and went before the smoke in the air swirled for a while before converging into one spot. Moments later Naruto's body was formed. "How much did you get?" the redhead asked leaping from her perch on a thick tree branch, before walking towards Naruto. A crimson light flickered out of sight before she reached the blonde.

"Enough." Naruto replied cracking his neck. "Thanks for distracting him, otherwise he would have caught on to what I was doing." Naruto said flashing her a wide smile.

She giggled and wrapped her lithe arms around his neck. "Anytime Naruto-kun." she said hugging his head into her bosom.

Naruto groaned before a thought crossed his mind. "Anyway Yoko, what are you wearing? You look like you're heading to the beach." Naruto breathlessly said while trying to pull himself from her grip.

Yoko pouted before releasing him, making him fall on his butt. She put her hands on her hips. "You don't like what I'm wearing. Just wait until you get older, then you'll want to see more of me." she said pushing her breasts together with her arms, while bending at the waist.

Color made itself visible on Naruto's cheeks as he turned his head from the view and stood to his feet. "What else could you show me, that I haven't already seen?" he asked holding his hand up already knowing what she was going to say. She giggled before he continued speaking. "Let's just see what's new about the village." the young blonde said walking to a tree that dematerialized into a swirling mass of energy.

Yoko giggling grew as she latched her arms around Naruto's left bicep. Naruto's face resembled a tomato while he walked through.

**[Reality]**

Inoichi released his hand from Naruto's head as if it was on fire. He stumbled backwards and breathed the largest sigh of relief in mankind. "I knew it was dangerous in there. But what was that feeling in the back of my mind." Inoichi thought out loud, while checking his ponytail.

The Sandaime's eyes widened at Inoichi's retreat. "What the hell happened in there?"

The older blonde held his head. It felt like somebody was stomping on his skull. After a while he finally looked at the Hokage. He told the man what happened while in the boy's mindscape.

It was a short story, but it had such a large meaning. "That's an interesting story. I'm truly sorry for making you go in there." Hiruzen apologized before glancing towards the doctor, before snapping his head back to Inoichi. "Wait, the Kyuubi's a female!?" he yelled after the shocking information fully sunk in.

Inoichi nodded his head, still surprised himself. "I'm still reeling from that surprise myself." he said.

The Sandaime returned his gaze back to the doctor. "Is there anything else I should know?" he asked lifting the tip of his hat from over his eyes.

The man shook his head, again looking at his clipboard. "Nothing to warrant any action. Most of his wounds were partially healed by the time we got to them. The seal keeping his tenant from escaping was fully intact and the calluses covering the bottom of his feet were removed." he said smiling as he looked back at the Hokage.

The Sandaime nodded before looking back to Inoichi. "I would ask you to return for more information, but it's obvious the Kyuubi's protecting Naruto-kun while he's in this state. Thank you for your help, you can return to bed now." he said giving a short bow in thanks.

Inoichi bowed in return. "Anytime Hokage-sama." the Yamanaka clan head lied before walking out the room.

"I estimate a full recovery in a few hours time. The only thing I needed to do was provide him with a comfortable place to rest." the doctor replied to the Hokage's unasked question. The old man thanked the doctor before the man left the Hokage alone with the young blonde.

The Hokage placed a hand atop the blonde's head, brushing a stray bang from in front of his eyes with his thumb. "Oh, Naruto-kun, where have you been?" he said softly as he thought about when he got the news that the blonde had disappeared.

**[Flashback]**

Hiruzen sighed wearily as he continued to work on his paperwork for the night. The stacks had grown rather high when he returned from spending time with Naruto. It was the young blonde's fifth birthday so he treated the boy to a bowl of ramen. He chuckled to himself when one bowl turned into five bowls. That boy fell in love with the exquisite taste of Ichiraku's ramen.

"I already know what his monthly stipends are going to be spent on." the Hokage softly said remembering how Naruto was kicked out of the orphanage last week. He had fired the woman in charge, but knew it was going to happen again. So he found the boy an apartment he could live in.

It was small with a single bed and bath, but he didn't really need a lot of space as he was living alone.

His train of thought was interrupted as faint yells echoed throughout the village. He instantly shot up and stared out the window of his office. He looked in the direction of Naruto's apartment, knowing that's where the noise was coming from. "I should have seen this coming." he muttered as he body flickered over there.

By the time he got there he was surprised to see a crowd formed outside of the apartment complex. "Its empty, the demon's not inside." a gruff looking man said while walking out of the apartment, eyes widened as he noticed the Hokage standing on a building across them.

Though, having heard the words, Hiruzen only paid attention to a one, 'empty.' That was impossible, he had just dropped the blonde off thirty minutes ago. How could he not be in there?

The Hokage quickly passed the man and entered the apartment. It was barely furnished, only containing a small cot in the corner of the room, and a small dresser near it. The cot looked untouched, so Naruto must've not even touched it when he got home.

He quickly scanned the kitchen, finding nothing that would give him a clue. He didn't need to go to the room in the back, since it was completely empty. "Where the hell is Naruto?" he thought out loud.

Not a single clue was left in the apartment, not even a sliver of any remaining chakra. It was completely empty, dead inside. Rage filled his heart as he came to the conclusion that he was kidnapped. "ANBU!" he yelled.

Instantly four ANBU members were in front of him, bowed on one knee. "Find him!" he yelled again, as they quickly disappeared.

Though yelling had calmed him down a little, he was still peeved that someone would abduct the boy he thought of as a grandchild.

**[End Flashback]**

Hiruzen shed a single tear as he thanked Kami that the boy has been returned to him.

**A/N: Whew, that took a lot out of me. I just seriously wrote a combination of over seven thousand words, and then some, at once. My hands are so very sore right now. I just want to get in my bed and go to sleep.**

**Of course you know first chapters don't need to be super long, so I'm going to end it here. I was thinking of keeping all the chapters this length, but who knows, I might make them longer in the future.**

**What'd you think of the story, I know some of you were surprised to see Yoko. I was surprised as well and I wrote the thing.**

**Well I'll let y'all get to your reviewing so see you next time.**


	2. Adaptation

**Say hello to chapter two of Lost & Found! If you're reading it's sibling **_**Killer Instinct**_** then you know the system of updating those two stories are. Since I've already written them out, they will each be updated every week. Of course until I finish the rough drafts, then they will take much longer time.**

**Hopefully, by that time, I'll be making the chapters longer and filled with some more of what you love. Now lets start this rodeo!**

_Disclaimer: I Don't OWN NARUTO! Do I really have to keep saying this every chapter? I hope not._

**Lost & Found Chapter Two: Adaptation**

**[Five Hours Later]**

The sun had just peaked over the mountain overlooking the village when the Hokage got word that Naruto woke up. The man had only left for the office two hours prior, to continue his paperwork.

'Finally the boy is up, now he could tell us what happened to him.' the old man thought dashing for the hospital.

When the old man arrived at the hospital he found something he wasn't expecting. "What the hell happened?" he questioned, the anger evident in his voice.

"He escaped." Hawk answered plainly, though he still couldn't explain to himself how he couldn't find the blonde.

"No shit! How did he escape with ANBU watching over him?!" the Sandaime questioned again.

Snake began the simple explanation that the blonde filled the room with chakra laced black smoke and escaped through the open window. After that he just vanished in the air.

The old man was left speechless at the simplicity of the escape. He then wondered about the skill his ANBU had, if a ten year old was able to evade them so easily.

**[L&F]**

Naruto stood in his old apartment. He was still surprised he knew where it was, having not been in it for five full years. Even then he only had it for a short week. It was, now, fully furnished with lots of nice things. Some female, who looked to be in her late tenns was sleeping in the small twin bed.

With only her head and a bit of her upper torso revealed, Naruto and his young, but matured mind, had to admit that the girl was extremely attractive. Her chocolate brown hair was slightly ruffled, due to being sleep for hours. Though most importantly the tops of her cleavage peeked out of what Naruto could deduce as her pink tank top.

"**HEY FOCUS!"** an annoyed, demonic, voice yelled in the blonde's mind.

He sucked his teeth in annoyance as he peeled his eyes away from the female with a bit of color gracing his cheeks. 'I was gone five years. I would have been surprised if everything was how I left it.' Naruto thought, changing the subject. His attire only consisted of his ruined pair of pants and the new bandages the hospital staff wrapped around his upper body.

'From the looks of her, I'd guess she's a kunoichi. Maybe an old Genin… oh, never mind.' Naruto thought eyeing the Chunin vest at the foot of her bed, before stealing another quick glance.

"Oh now you're paying attention to a female's body." Yoko said again, getting more annoyed.

The blonde ignored her and kept analyzing his situation. He wasn't surprised he was able to get into the apartment so easily. His Kekkei Genkai made it easy for him to infiltrate any building. Unless it was completely sealed, that not even air could get in. The best part about it, nobody in the village knew he had this special blood.

He thought about his special blood, his Kekkei Genkai, his **Kemuri no Hen'I**. (Smoke Mutation) It gave him the ability to turn his body into smoke, however he wanted, clothes included. It took him at least a month to include his clothes in that dilemma. The smoke had the properties of being noticeably thick and black, or as thin and clear as air.

He sucked his teeth one more time before he vanished in a puff of smoke. The thick cloud of smoke, thinned out into the air, completely vanishing from from sight.

He reappeared on the roof. The roof of the apartment was wide with various potted plants around the sides. Behind him was a door that led down into the apartment. He gave a sigh, now wondering where he's going to live. He took a big breath as he extended his left arm.

It was then that a thin wisp of, nearly, clear smoke wrapped around his arm and seeped through the bandages. Another smaller wisp merged into the base of his throat, again seeping through the bandages. Two more, smaller, wisps merged into the inside of each individual wrist.

The reasons for this was unknown but Naruto flashed a large grin as he felt complete now.

His eyes widened when a hand rested on his shoulder. "My my, Naruto-kun, its just like you to stand atop this roof, huh?" an aged voice asked behind him.

Naruto flashed a large grin and faced the Hokage. "I guess old habits die hard. I am sad the apartment is no longer mine. It was the only thing I could call mine." Naruto said, a frown replacing his smile.

Hiruzen's face marred into a frown as well and he patted the young blonde's shoulder. "I'm sorry for giving your apartment away, but it couldn't stay vacant for so long. Don't worry about it though, you can have the spot next to it." he said smiling brightly.

Naruto's grin returned. "Good you're going to need the privacy." Yoko voiced in his head.

The Hokage's sudden serious face put the blonde on edge. "Now, I'm going to need you to tell me where you've been the past five years." he said narrowing his eyes a bit.

Naruo took a step back in caution, well he tried, but the old man's grip on his shoulder only tightened. "I don't know. All I remember is waking up in the middle of the night, with a hand covering my mouth. I was lifted and I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck. After that, I woke up in the hospital and smoke was everywhere, so I jumped out the window. I was surprised that I made it to the next building, but I got over it and ran here." he said looking down at his body, surprise written all over his face. "I guess that's why I'm bigger than I remember. Have I been sleep these past five years? Did I miss my chance to enter the academy?" Naruto asked keeping the questions in the air, though he knew he was lying through his teeth. He just had to keep it off his face, while the man was watching.

The Sandaime looked down at the ten year old with a withering gaze. When the blonde rose his head to look at him, he began to sweat from the menacing gaze. Fortunately the Sandaime took that as a fearful reaction than a nervous one.

"Okay, I believe you. Even though I find it peculiar that you returned on the same night you left." Hiruzen said releasing his grip. Yesterday was the blonde's birthday, the same day he disappeared five years ago.

Naruto took a few steps back, clutching his shoulder in pain before rubbing it. Slowly the pain began to fade. 'He's still got strength behind those brittle bones.' the blonde thought as the old man turned his back to the boy. "Don't worry Oji-san, I'm sure I'll remember what happened later." Naruto said, using 'oji-san' purposely.

Hearing those words softened the Hokage's features. He turned his head and gave the boy a smile. "I'm sure you will Naruto-kun. Come to my office with me and I'll help you with the lease to the apartment. I was going to be giving you stipends every month until you became an adult, or a shinobi, but you left before I could start. But seeing as how you're back, I'll start now. But it'll only be until you graduate from the academy, alright?" the Hokage said walking to the roof's door, so they could begin their walking journey to the Hokage building.

Naruto cheered, following the Hokage down through the apartment building and into the streets.

"Of course, I'll have to give you psychological and physical exams. I have to make sure you're healthy before I make you a student." the man said smiling as his village slowly started filling with morning activity. "And you'll have to see a therapist every now and again, so I can see if your condition improves." the man added looking at the smiling blonde.

'As long as I have my privacy, I'll endure anything he throws at me.' Naruto thought with a large grin splitting his face in two.

**[One Year Later]**

The time was six in the morning when Naruto finished his morning routine. The blonde had grown a bit this last year. First off he grew two more inches, now reaching four and a half feet, in height.

His attire consisted of a simple, white, shirt with Konoha's symbol on the front. Light blue shorts made up his bottoms and blue ninja sandals for his feet.

The white tape remained on his arms, though they ended before reaching his elbows. Also a black, skin tight, undershirt was worn underneath. It's collar wrapped high around his neck, stopping just underneath his chin. He wore this two shirts, despite knowing of the heat the country was known for.

His spiky, bright blonde, hair shined to mirror his happiness. He only had one more year before he officially became a ninja of Konoha.

Truthfully, he was only happy because it was the last day of his secret probation. Ever since he appeared in the village, ANBU has been shadowing him, day and night. They watched him get up, go to school and even sleep. They even watched him train, so he was only limited to Taijutsu. Though today, he didn't feel a thing from them, signifying that they were indeed gone. The only one he couldn't sense was the Hokage, 'Damn that man sure does know how to completely vanish from my senses.' Naruto thought, though it seems he could barely drop off his radar.

He brushed a hand through his hair as a crooked smirk made its way to his face. "The old man was rightfully paranoid about you Naruto-kun. But just because he's taken the hidden detail off of you, doesn't mean he wont stop watching you. He's the leader of the entire village, he has to have some sort of ability to oversee said village." Yoko warned him.

Naruto mentally nodded, accepting the helpful advice from Yoko. He wiped the smirk from his face and walked out the apartment.

"Good morning Naruto-kun." the blonde smiled as the voice of his neighbor ringed in his ears.

Despite how he felt when he first went to his old apartment, the tenant inside was extremely nice. He had forgot there were good people in the village. That small percentage spurred him to achieve the goal he had in mind, instead of walking a different path the larger percentage nearly had him on.

"Good morning to you too Kaede-chan." the blonde said giving her a friendly bow.

"So, only one more year huh?" the revealed seventeen year old said, wearing a dark brown blouse, with a thick black obi belt. The shirt was low cut, allowing her large C-cup breast a lot of breathing room. Her dark green Chunin vest was unzipped all the way.

Her skin tight, dark brown, pants really accented her bottom curves. Black ninja sandals along with her hip pouch and shuriken holster on her right leg completed her look. It was very obvious by the way she dressed, that she used her various assets to distract while she fought. It was very distracting for any male to fight her, or even talk to her… classic kunoichi.

Kaede was an orphan like many others in the village. Though her parents death wasn't caused by Yoko's attack eleven years ago. They got mugged and were murdered like the civilians they were. They would be proud of how strong their little girl was becoming.

Naruto flashed her a grin as he bounced on the balls of his feet, in excitement. "Yeah, one more year to go. Who knows, maybe we'll end up doing a mission together." he said flashing her a larger smile.

Kaede returned his smile and put her left hand on her hip, while wagging the index finger on her right. "Nuh uh uh, you have to actually pass the exams first. Focus on that." she said walking closer.

Naruto chuckled as he pointed at her head, "You forget something?"

Kaede stopped and patted her head, feeling the towel she forgot to remove. She giggled and removed the towel, shaking her head a little in the process. "Don't want to run around the village with that on my head." she said taking her Konoha forehead protector from her Chunin vest and tying it around her head. She shook her naturally curly hair a little more and a single curly bang bounced over her forehead. "Better?" she asked.

Naruto openly gaped and drooled at his neighbor, his cheeks covered by his blush. He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Perfect." he said soft enough for her to barely hear.

The brunette let out a giggle and kissed the blonde on top of his head. "You're just too cute." she said before gasping. "You better hurry, or you're going to be late for your breakfast." she said releasing his head from her grasp.

"You know its only polite for ladies to go first. Go on and get your mission first." the blonde smiled brightly.

Kaede returned her hands to her hips. "You just want to see my rear. What did I tell you about peeping on me." she said, being the only one to know about his bloodline. She only knew because she caught him using it to obviously peep on her.

Naruto put his hands behind his back and rolled on the balls of his feet innocently. "To never peek on you while you're in the shower." he drone monotonously. "Though I haven't been caught a second time yet." the blonde said raising his hands in defense.

Quicker than expected, she moved to hit Naruto upside the head. She wasn't surprised when her hand swiped through a cloud of gray smoke. Naruto chuckled a bit, thankful he knew her that well.

She might not entirely look it, but that girl was made for speed. She was faster than most Chunins and half the age. And her stealth was almost on par with his own, and that's saying something.

Naruto laughed as the breeze onto a nearby rooftop. "You almost got me there. I still think you should take the Jonin exam soon." he said before she stuck her tongue out at him in a very childish manner.

She thought about what he said and scoffed. "You know I still need to learn another element and get recommendations from five active Jonins, before I could even take the actual exam." she said again putting her hands on her hips.

Naruto smirked. "You know you can get recommendations any time you want. And you should try something that'll compliment your lightning style… like water, its very fluid." he said winking at her before bounding off towards his destination.

Kaede shook her head at the perverted little boy. She thought about what he said again, before following his example and bounding towards the giant red building for her mission.

**[L&F]**

Naruto's smile instantly dropped when he landed in the streets. It was how it was for the whole year. It wasn't like he was sad or anything, it was just that his destination had him going through a league of villagers that hated him.

There was the occasional villager that smiled and hollered him a good morning. He'll instantly smile back and return the gesture, only to promptly return his face to indifference.

Luckily, this time, he wasn't heading for breakfast. No, he had something just a teeny bit more important than food. The only problem was that he didn't know exactly where he was supposed to go. Fortunately he didn't let that tidbit of information discourage him, there was no place he couldn't infiltrate. 'Hmm, I think its around here somewhere.' Naruto thought stopping in the middle of the road.

It was still very early in the morning, so the streets weren't as full as they would be by eight o'clock. He turned right, down an alley. The alley was nearly pitch black, but his eyes quickly adjusted to the lack of light. He continued to navigate through the corridor like area, getting small specks of light here and there, before he bumped into a dead end.

He brushed his hand along the wall with a straight face. He had to do it slowly, or else he might miss a definite crack. 'Hmm, this is going to take forever.' Naruto whined in his mind.

"Stop whining, and just concentrate." Yoko said with a yawn.

The blonde's retort was cut off when he found the sweet spot. He grinned as his body dissolved into smoke and he slithered into the crack. He spent a few minutes as smoke, just breezing through cracks after cracks. He moved further and further down south, to his destination.

He appeared in an open area on his fifth minute. He was very high up, but yet was so low below. When he reached the ground and materialized he stretched his back. "I knew I wasn't as close as I thought I was. I almost got lost." he groaned in frustration before his stomach growled. "And I'm hungry." he whined crying anime tears as he walked forward.

The area was a larger than realized room, complete with a concrete bridge. Said bridge loomed over an even more dark pit. Four maroon colored pillars connected the bridge together, two on both sides.

Two dim lights were also situated on both sides of the bridge, resting atop two high, gray colored, arches.

Naruto looked up to see only a few streaks of light, but they didn't seem to reach the ground. He looked around more and noticed that he had walked to the middle of the bridge. He stopped and really surveyed his surroundings.

He couldn't help but notice all the people around him. They weren't really that visible to the naked eye, but he had a sixth sense about that kind of thing. That and he was in his initial Jinchuriki form, to better see in the ungodly amount of darkness surrounding him. Each of the stalkers were wearing a pitch black cloak, to better blend into the darkness, but the stupidly wore gray masks. That small little detail was enough to tip the blonde off about their exact positions.

"Ehh, why is so many people around me?" the blonde whined loudly.

The blonde quit his complaining when the faint sounds of a cane hitting concrete reached his ears. "Ahh, the boy has finally arrived. I see Hiruzen has recalled your hidden babysitters." an aging man said coming up from behind Naruto, stopping just a few meters away.

Naruto's eyes returned to normal as he turned around. The first thing he noticed was the bandages covering the top of the man's head, leaving only his left eye uncovered. The second thing was the 'x' shaped scar on his chin. He only paid attention to that was because it looked cool on the weathered face.

He was wearing a black cloak over a white shirt. The right side of his body was gone, but Naruto's observant eyes picked up the slight lump there. "There wasn't there the last time we seen him." Yoko spoke inside Naruto's mind.

The blonde respectfully bowed to the elder. "Yes, it took him too long in my regards. I would be lying if I said, I wasn't happy when I didn't sense his ANBU this morning." he said crossing his arms while keeping his eyes on the mysterious man.

"You're a very observant boy, for one so young. I wouldn't be surprised if, very soon, you surpass your master. My subordinate never seemed to get all that stronger, no matter how much he… _altered_ his body." the elder said, saying the word 'altered' with an unsure tone. He wasn't sure that was the right word for the man's situation. But he couldn't outright judge the man.

The blonde accepted the praise, only returning a bow in thanks. "Perhaps, you would care for a new master and join my organization? I can already see that you're highly skilled, maybe even more than some of the subordinates surrounding you. But even with your hidden strength, you're still leagues away from reaching my level." the elder spoke with a truthful tone behind his piercing eyes.

Naruto narrowed his eyes, as the gears in his mind began working for an answer. **"Remember why you came here. Think of your endgame."** the angered words of Yoko spoke loudly in his mind.

Naruto knew why she was a little angry, but he didn't let that effect him. He kept his arms crossed as he pooled all the knowledge he had on the two men, comparing his sensei to the man in front of him. It took him a while, but the man in front of him was too mysterious for his liking. He didn't know of his strengths or weaknesses, but he still had something he wanted. Now, just wasn't the time to acquire it though. He had to admit that he still had some years of information gathering and training before he could take it.

"Sorry Danzo-sama, but I cant accept the offer. I'm too far into the light to vanish into the dark. I hope this doesn't affect the reason for my presence in Konoha?" Naruto spoke, uncrossing his arms to bow apologetically to the elder.

Danzo watched the boy bow with narrowed eyes. "Yes, of course. I understand completely. Perhaps we should get to business then?" the man said turning to walk back to his office.

The blonde slowly followed, retuning his senses to his surroundings, remembering its layout and the number of ROOT agents surrounding him.

**[L&F]**

Two hours passed before Naruto was seen on the streets again. He emerged from the same dark alley from before with a thoughtful look on his face. "Well it seems everything's falling together rather well, don't you think?" Yoko asked in a content tone, suggesting that she was happy he wasn't down there anymore.

Naruto nodded slowly while he walked to the academy, he only had ten minutes before it started. Usually he would be there far earlier, but he spent longer than he thought he would underneath Konoha.

'A little too well if you ask me. I don't know what that old man was thinking, but it doesn't seem good.' Naruto thought sighing in frustration.

He's been analyzing the elder the entire meeting, but all he could pick up was that he ran ROOT. There was no indication of what his skills could be. Though that bandaged head was the real reason he was hesitant about becoming an operative. He had no idea what was underneath, but the longer he spent around him, the more opportunities he had of finding out in the worst way possible.

"You can always return to ask _**that man**_ if you really want the information. It seems he and Danzo have more history than previously imagined. Though, if you ask me, I think it's a little obvious what under the bandages. Judging from how heavily that area's bandaged, compared to when we last seen him. I would say that he's hiding something, instead of simply covering an old wound." Yoko spoke analytically. "The same could be said for the bulge under his robe." she added after a quick second.

The blonde could se the academy building in the distance and smiled softly. 'I'm glad I have you sealed in me Yoko. I can always rely on you for anything.' Naruto told the kitsune before a squeal of delight erupted in his ear.

At first the blonde thought it was Yoko, and it was. But he also noticed that there was a second set of squealing lungs, that seemed to get more intense.

His instincts took over and he substituted with a nearby villager. A crash was heard from where Naruto previously stood.

A short, platinum blonde, girl screamed in terror as she collided with an old woman. "I'm so sorry." she continued to apologize as she peeled herself off the lady.

This girl was Ino Yamanaka and she had a fixation with her blonde counterpart.

Naruto became friends with the girl, to her delight, because he had to frequent the Yamanaka house every few weeks. Since it wasn't safe to go inside the blonde's head to forcefully learn the truth, Hiruzen felt therapy was the next best thing and assigned Inoichi to the task of temporary therapist.

The friendship didn't happen immediately though, it actually kind of happened by accident. It took a total of three months, six visits, before Naruto made the mistake that began to slowly change his outlook on things.

**[Flashback - Nine Months Ago]**

Naruto groaned mentally after finishing another pointless therapy session. 'His persistence is annoying. He's not going to learn anything important, so why does he even try?' the blonde thought heading towards the front door of the medium sized two story home/flower shop.

He reached for the doorknob, when it suddenly flew open and hit him in the face. "We're home Tou-san!" a loud feminine voice yelled with happiness.

Meanwhile, the whiskered blonde's hands flew to his face and he groaned in pain.

Two sets of gasps were heard as small hand touched his cheek. "I'm so sorry Naruto-kun. I didn't think you were still here." the same young voice said, much closer to Naruto's left ear.

"I'll go get the first aid kit." another, more mature, feminine voice spoke, with footsteps moving further away from them.

Naruto only realized a hand was on his cheek at that moment. He abruptly brushed her hand off his skin while standing to his feet. He then looked at the girl, she was what any ten year old would look like.

She had short platinum blonde hair that reached her shoulders, with a navy blue hair clip on the left side of her forehead. She was wearing a purple dress with white, blossomed flowers all around it.

Her blue eyes held no pupils and it fit her amazingly. She was Ino Yamanaka, daughter to Inoichi Yamanaka and Iori Yamanaka.

Naruto scoffed then winced when she touched the noticeable bump on his forehead. It was still fresh, so it throbbed nastily. "Does it hurt?" she asked softly.

Again Naruto brushed her hand off and turned. "Its fine, it'll go down in a while." he said keeping his attitude aloof and uncaring.

Ino quickly ran in front of the other blonde and puffed her cheeks in indignation. She harshly poked the lump and frowned at Naruto's yelp. "You are not find. Now sit down and I'll wrap that in a bandage." she said both angry and concerned.

Naruto gulped and he quickly did as he was told. There was only two other females that would give him a look like that, this little girl was scarier than he thought.

Iori came back with a small container at that moment. She gave a soft smile at the two young blondes and quickly ran up the stairs to her waiting husband.

Ino set the container down and quietly opened it and sifted through its contents.

Naruto quietly watched as she slowly looked through the first aid kit. She seemed to deliberately be going slow, because he could easily see where the gauze was, under the adhesive bandages.

He could still feel his bump throbbing slightly on his head. Usually it would have healed instantly since it wasn't that much of a wound. Only then did he realize that Yoko wasn't giving it any attention.

Sensing she was caught Yoko audibly giggled. "Can you blame me Naru-kun? She's just so adorable. Lets have her heal this one, you don't want her to be sad do you?" she asked, tone suggesting that she was pouting.

A vision of Yoko's cute pouting face flashed in his mind. He released an audible sigh and mumbled, "I should've left through the back door." he would have preferred to have simply turned into smoke, but he was being watched constantly by ANBU.

The female blonde giggled lightly at his comment causing Naruto to blush in embarrassment at her soft laughter.

She finally found what she was looking for and held a bottle to Naruto's forehead. She sprayed the alcohol on the lump, making Naruto wince at the stinging sensation, not used to it. She then cut a large square of gauze before pressing it against his lump. Then she used tape to keep it in place. Overall the whiskered blonde looked goofy with a giant white X on his forehead, but at least she was finished. "That's it?" he asked flashing her a thankful smile.

Ino blushed while returning his smile with one of her own. "That should be enough. Just leave it there for a few hours." she said curiously looking over the rest of his body.

It was completely wrapped in other bandages, and yet he walked around with one hundred percent mobility. She knew he wasn't injured in any other way, so why was there so many bandages?

"Why do you have so many bandages wrapped around your body?" she couldn't help but ask.

The Uzumaki chuckled before standing up. He knew she was going to ask him that, since her father asked the same question. He flicked her nose and watched as she gasped and quickly covered it. "That's a secret, Ino-osekkaina." (Nosey Ino)

She puffed her cheeks again. "Then I'll just go in your mind and find out myself." she said holding her hands in her clan's unique hand seal.

"I wouldn't do that." naruto said, his ears picking up twin sets of soft gasps. He knew by that, that they now knew that he knew about the Kyuubi inside of him.

"Why, because its an invasion of your privacy?" she asked smugly, her fingers ready to do a technique she had just began learning.

"Yes that, but also because friends don't do that to each other." he said as her eyes lit up. "I mean…" Naruto said realizing his mistake and groaned when he was suddenly wrapped in a hug.

"So we're friends?" she asked, her eyes resembling twinkling stars.

Naruto groaned and tried to walk to the door, but her arms didn't release their grip. "I thought you only liked the devastated Sasuke-kun?" Naruto said in a mocking tone, not really knowing why he was doing it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Sasuke was a little asshole. He doubted he was like this before his clan was wiped out a year prior.

It wasn't that much of a secret that Ino had been crushing on the brooding, enigmatic Sasuke. Then it changed when the even more mysterious blonde started going to the academy three months ago.

Naruto noticed the other blonde looked down a little in thought. He could see that she was fighting something in her subconscious. He released a sigh, "Fine, I'll be your friend." he said unknowingly blushing. Ino was knocked out of her reprieve by that and started squealing in happiness. 'What the hell just happened?'

**[End Flashback]**

Ino snapped her fingers in front of Naruto's face with a mean glare directed at Naruto. "Why do you always do that?" she questioned so annoyed by how many times that's happened.

The male blonde rubbed the back of his head and tried to calm her down. "Sorry Ino-chan, I keep forgetting." he said smiling softly at her.

The girl was wearing a purple vest-like blouse with a raised collar that seemed to bunch a bit around her neck. The vest was also short and showed her bandaged midriff. A matching purple skirt, that had the sides slit, showed her bandaged thighs. The bandages stopped just above her knees to allow her full mobility.

Her arms were covered by white and purple elbow warmers, since they only seemed to cover her elbows and four more inches in both directions. Also she was wearing a pair of violet sandals.

She suddenly smiled and just as quickly wrapped her arms around his waist. She laughed at his straight face.

'Every time!' Naruto screamed in his head. 'I blame you Yoko.' Naruto directed his blame to his tenant.

The kitsune just laughed, accepting the full blame. "Tell me something I don't know." she said in between giggles.

"Alright Ino, I see how you are." Naruto said frowning before he hung his head and resumed walking to the academy.

Ino didn't know how, but next thing she knew, she wasn't holding anything. In her surprise she quickly reached for the other blonde's arm, but he took a big step and she missed.

She was now falling to the floor, but was unsurprisingly caught by Naruto. "Don't go falling in this dirt. I don't want you to ruin your outfit." he said with a soft chuckle. He set her back onto her feet and quickly released her body, when he noticed just where one of his hands were.

Fortunately, this time, she found her footing so she didn't nearly eat dirt this time. She tightly hugged Naruto's arm to show her thanks. "Thank you Naruto-kun. You're so much better than Sasuke-san." she said as they resumed their walk to the academy.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the obvious statement. "Well duh." he said with only about three more minutes left until class started.

**[Hokage's Office]**

Hiruzen sighed into his pipe before exhaling a large plume of smoke. His thoughts turned to Naruto. 'When he was gone, my goal was to find him. Now that he's in the village, I feel that he shouldn't be. Ahh, this is so exhausting!' he mentally yelling feeling frustrated.

He sifted thoughtlessly though some worthless documents. 'Whatever happened in the past five years changed the boy drastically. May be I have to consider the possibility that he's more than mentally damaged.' he thought again for about the millionth time.

He removed his team of ANBU from the boy's shadow and decided to watch him personally. But he lost him when he strolled into an extremely dark alley. His view orb wasn't able to penetrate the darkness, he couldn't even get a lock on his chakra signature and that was saying something. It wasn't like him to lose somebody, but he just couldn't locate the scrambled signature.

He had to think of a way to get the blonde to reveal what he knew, because he knew the boy was lying. He might have to take drastic measures to find the truth.

He knew from the reports he received from the ANBU, that the boy did the same things everyday. He'll wake up an hour or two before dawn. That alone told him that he's had training, to be able to wake up so early. His morning ritual was the same, do a few push ups and sit ups to fully wake himself up, before showering and brushing his teeth. Then he'll get dressed and head outside and, on occasions, talk to his young neighbor.

After a while, she'll remind him of his need for breakfast, in which he'll eat at a either a sushi restaurant, barbeque or the ramen shop… mostly the ramen shop.

After breakfast he'll jog to the Academy for Future Shinobi, where he'll simply sit there with a bored expression on his face. The squad were insightful enough that they could tell from his runs to the academy, that he could clearly move faster.

After class he would head home and lay down in the bed, sleeping for a few hours. After waking up around five to six in the evening he would head to the library for an hour or until it close. The books were basic and was mostly for learning how to control chakra and furthering your control over it. He was also reading a short book that explained how to learn of your affinity and explained the exercises needed to strength each of the individual elements. That book was a lot more advanced, but he allowed him to read it, feeling that he was just a genius in the making.

About twice a month, he would head to the Yamanaka house for his mandatory therapy session since going into his mind was extremely dangerous. Three months into the sessions he befriended their only daughter, Ino. When they became friends, they started doing things together all the time.

Hiruzen was happy that Naruto found a friend in the young girl, but couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't changing. He was soon knocked from his thoughts when someone entered his office. "Mission accomplished Hokage-sama." A lazy voice echoed in the old man's ears.

The Sandaime rose his head to see his most infamous Elite Jonin. Kakashi stood with his personalized air of aloofness. One hand was in his pocket, while the other held his precious hentai book he was all too familiar with.

Hiruzen smiled as an idea popped in his mind. "Ah, Kakashi-san, just the man I wanted to see." the old man said, hiding his smirk with his hands.

**A/N: WHOOO! I'm finished everybody. How was that, did it appease any of you. Thanks for reading and please review it.**

**Also I have to inform you that I will now, officially begin working on a new chapter of Swift Ninja. Its going to happen now, I don't know when it will be updated, but expect it to be the next chapter I update.**

**Thank you again and don't forget to review, PEEAACCEE!**


	3. The Jig Is Up

**Let me put one more chapter of this story out. Let me just try and get this story running properly. I remember a reviewer by the name of, ****k4m3j0****, told me that the story was just starting to take off. So maybe if I keep up the updates, I'll get more and more reviewers.**

**Hopefully this chapter does better than the previous installments. Oh and to k4m3j0, thank you for the words.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._

**Lost & Found Chapter Three: The Jig Is Up**

**[Konoha Academy]**

Hourse passed and Naruto sighed in relief. He immediately began exiting the ground to get his lunch. "Come on Naruto, wait for me." Ino said a few feet behind the blonde.

Naruto chuckled while turning his head. "You know me Ino, this is where we split up for a few hours. I'll meet you at your house, okay." Naruto said frowning at her pout. "I'll help you with the clone jutsu when I get there, okay." he told her patting her on her head.

Ino smiled and nodded before she sprinted to her house.

Naruto chuckled at her depart. Iruka had informed the class that they were now going to get ready for their graduation and thus had to learn the three basic techniques required for the ninja skill portion of the class.

When the blonde realized that they took an entire year to learn the most basic techniques, he couldn't help but scoff at the absurdness. It didn't even take him a week to learn all three of the techniques.

Naruto was nearly off the academy grounds when Sasuke stood in his path. "What do you want Sasuke? Don't you have a lost family to grieve for?" Naruto spoke harshly while brushing past the young Uchiha.

Said Uchiha narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists in anger. He had blocked the blonde's path with the intent of asking for a friendly spar, but now he wanted a bloody battle.

"Now that I think about it, that clan was known for their Sharingan eyes… where's yours at?" Naruto asked turning his head to smirk crazily at the raven haired boy.

Sasuke's anger was frozen at the look in the blonde's eyes. A shiver shot through his entire spine as he witnessed his death at the hands of the blonde in front of him. His body exploded in a shower of blood and bones. It was like he was watching himself in third person, watching himself die multiple times in a loop.

Naruto returned his head forward, his face back to normal, as Sasuke dropped to his knees. Naruto resumed walking away when Sasuke screamed into the sky, shocking the surrounding people.

Iruka, the Chunin sensei for their class ran toward the screaming boy and quickly dropped to his knees. Other than the long cut going, horizontally, through the bridge of his nose, he wasn't all the special from the other Chunins. "What happened Sasuke-kun?"

By then Sasuke had already curled into himself, trying to make himself as small as possible. His hands were around his stomach while eyes were shut tightly.

The boy's scream only seemed to increase in volume and pitch, forcing Iruka to cover his ears. He looked around for the source of the Uchiha's distress.

The blonde standing in front of the approaching crowd made Iruka growl. Naruto flashed him a smirk before he was engulfed by the approaching crowd. "What did he do?" the Iruka continued to growl hatefully.

Sasuke suddenly calmed down, but remained in his position. It wasn't until he opened his eyes did he realize the position he was in. He flinched and immediately ripped himself from Iruka's comforting hold. His ears dint pick up the gasp coming from the man, or the surrounding people, as he ran home as fast as he could.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

Naruto smirked as the screams of the young Uchiha pierced through the village. "That's almost as loud as bubblegum's regular speaking voice." he muttered, ducking between all of the villagers in his path.

"**Don't you think that was a little unnecessary?"** Yoko inquired from inside Naruto's dome.

It only took the blonde a second to think of the answer. 'Absolutely. Its better if he has the Sharingan now, rather than later. At least I think that was life threatening enough to give him the Dojutsu.' Naruto answered the female in his head.

Naruto continued walking until he reached a vacant training ground. He didn't care to check which one specifically, he only cared that it was empty.

He walked to the center of the training ground, when his senses flared to life. "Hello! Is anyone here?" he yelled, playing the part of an ignorant academy student.

"You do know these grounds are off limits to civilians, even if they are going to a school for the chance of becoming a shinobi." A manly voice spoke from beyond the tree linings.

Naruto quickly turned, widening his senses, as he continued to turn to look for his stalker. "I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Naruto yelled in apology.

"Mah mah, you don't have to lie to me." The voice spoke again, with a bit of a lazy tone.

Naruto mentally cursed, 'This guy is smart to have clearly seen tht. And he still hasn't revealed himself.' the blonde thought. "I'm not lying mister!" He yelled showing frustrated anger.

"Yes you are. I know all about you Naruto Uzumaki. I know all of your secrets and I even know secrets you don't even know are secrets." The man said, his voice still projecting itself all around the clearing.

"**An obvious bluff."** Yoko assured the blonde, feeling irritated herself at the gall of this man.

"That doesn't surprise me, coming from a big time ninja man." Naruto played along, wanting to see where this would go.

"Good, then you should know I saw what you did to the young Uchiha." The voice said, making Naruto's eyes widen a bit. "I have to say, I was quite surprised to see you knew that technique. Tsk tsk tsk Naruto-kun, I would've expected better from you, if you hadn't changed during your time away from the village." the man said again, as if knowing what happened during the blonde's time away.

Naruto's eyes widened more. "You know what happened to me?" the blonde asked completely ignoring the other part of the lecture. "Can you please tell me? I'm scared I'll never know what happened." Naruto said constantly turning, trying to pinpoint the location of the mysterious man.

Silence washed over the clearing, Naruto had stopped his spinning to drop to his knees to sell his act… and because he was getting dizzy. **"This guy is extremely skilled to be able to conceal his chakra to this degree. I cant even locate a sliver of a signature out there."** Yoko said as she too scanned the foliage for the man.

'Just keep checking, nobody could hide from you for long.' the blonde told the woman, before he heard her grunt, knowing she nodded her head.

Naruto too sent out his senses, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. He couldn't really do anything, since he wanted to retain his enigmatic background. "Hello! Are you still there!?" Naruto yelled, mentally berating himself for being in this situation.

The blonde could still feel eyes upon him, but it felt like they were 360 degrees all around him. 'Damn it all.' the blonde thought hating that he couldn't see who it was.

Soft laughter echoed through the clearing. "Yeah, I'm still here. Sorry about that. I'll show myself to you now." After that was said a man walked into the clearing.

He was wearing the standard attire for a Jonin ranked shinobi of Konoha. Not to mention he was reading an orange covered book. But that wasn't the most surprising thing about the man, it was the slanted headband covering his left eye. This man was one of Konoha's most legendary shinobi, Sharingan no Kakashi.

Naruto didn't physically widen his eyes, but he knew this wasn't looking good. 'Damn, anybody but him. Out of all the Jonins this village has, it had to be the strongest of them all.' "Who are you?" he asked taking a cautious step back.

Kakashi's lone eye informed Naruto the man was smiling. "I think you already know Naruto-kun. But if it makes you feel better I'll tell you, I am Kakashi Hatake. I've come to… acquire some much needed information out of you." the scarecrow said closing his book with an air of seriousness around him.

Naruto showed confusion at the implications, inside he was thinking of what to say. The answer came within seconds. "I don't know if you realize it, you know being half blind and everything, but I'm only eleven. What could I possibly tell you that you don't already know? After all you told me yourself, you know everything about me. Even things I have no knowledge of, you do." the whiskered blonde said in a single breath, surprising Yoko, himself, and most importantly, Kakashi with his retort.

Silence again filled the clearing as each parties stared at one another. Naruto was busy giving himself a pat on the back, before Kakashi suddenly eye smiled. He let out a soft chuckle. "I guess you're right."

Naruto face faulted at the man's reply. **"Excellent job Nauto-kun. You caught him in his own lie, I taught you well."** Yoko spoke proudly.

"Impressive to catch that, I knew you were far smarter for your age. That's why I have to apologize for what I'm about to do." Kakashi said lifting his headband, revealing his famed Sharingan eye.

"Why do you have two different colored eyes? Are you going to train too?" Naruto asked, while mentally gulping. He hoped that if he stayed in his innocent act, it would quench the man's suspicions. He was strong, but not strong enough to defeat Kakashi. If the two fought, it would only be a matter of time before Naruto fell, especially if he wasn't using his full capabilities.

The silver haired Jonin ignored the boy's words and ran forward, only moving at Chunin speed.

Naruto yelped and ran for the safety of the forest. Suddenly Kakashi appeared in front of him and swung in a backhand.

The blonde's reflexes took over and he baseball slid under the moving appendage. He righted his footing and dashed into the trees, at full Genin speed. 'What the hell is happening?'

"**Either this man hates you guts, but respects you for some reason, hence the polite behavior. Or, he's trying to test you for an unknown reason. Or he could really be trying to get a gauge of your abilities."** Yoko informed as Naruto ducked under a high root, keeping his speed at high Genin.

'I don't like either of those.' Naruto relied looking back and ducking his head, narrowly evading a thrown kunai. "Hey, stop that!" Naruto yelled before grunting as a kick connected with his side.

He skipped across the forest, before he skidded along and stopped with a lone boulder against his back. "Damn it." Naruto groaned as he held his right arm in pain. It wasn't broken, but he could tell there were fractures in three different places.

"**This could spell trouble if you wish to remain inconspicuous to the village."** Yoko yelled in anger, knowing he wanted to refrain from using his Kekkei Genkai in plain sight.

'Even if I was to fight back, I would still have problems. But you're right, I might as well fight back. I'll keep it at Genin level, no higher than that, my goal would be wasted if I die here.' Naruto thought as a dozen shuriken flew towards him.

Instantly a pair of custom knives appeared in his hands, one black and the other silver.

For the first knife, it was easily fifteen inches long. Starting from the handle, it was wrapped in pitch black leather. With a silver Kanji engraved into that read **Ebony**. The guard was special, on one side it curved upwards and on the other it curved downwards. The blade was black as well, with a silver strip going down the middle, separating the sharp ends of the blade.

The silver knife had a reverse color scheme then the first. It also had the Kanji for _Ivory_ on its handle. They were his favorite ladies, other than Yoko and Ino of course.

He held them in reverse grip and batted away two of the approaching shurikens. He didn't know that if he had simply stayed sitting they would have harmlessly impacted the tree three feet above his head.

"Enough knowledge for basic storage seals, most likely sealed into your wrists. Above average speed for someone your age, along with incredible reflexes. Your tolerance for pain is high, considering the damage that arm and ribs just went through." Kakashi spoke stepping into the blonde's line of sight. "It's quite obvious you've hand training. From whom and to what extent is the question plaguing my mind." Kakashi added ignoring the boy's angered growl.

"**Use that brain of yours and think of a way to minimize the man's assumptions of who your sensei was." **Yoko spoke glaring at Kakashi through Naruto's eyes, both of them being mindful to not make eye contact with his implanted eye.

"Purposely avoiding eye contact, again you surprise me with your knowledge. Your sensei must have drilled into your head about the profound abilities this Dojutsu possess. He or she must be Jonin and above, that narrows down the list considerably." Kakashi summarized again.

"Okay since you want to know so badly, I'll show you what I know." Naruto said his reasoning flying out the window. His hands flew through a series of basic hand seals, knowing full well the man's implanted eye already deduced what he was up to. "This is the only technique I know that fits me." Naruto said, **"Kirigakure no Jutsu."** (Hidden in the Mist Technique) the blonde muttered raising his left arm high in the air while keeping his right hand in front of his face, both fingers forming half of the respective sides of the ram seal.

It was a immediate process, but dark smoke began filling the area. It was as if there was a fire nearby. Naruto breathed deeply as he brought his left arm down to join the left, when they connected he exhaled an even larger plume of smoke. Naruto directed the smoke straight down so that it would immediately consume him first, before spreading outward.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, he's seen this technique before and it wasn't as dense as this smoke is, plus it was easily darker. "This couldn't possibly be the work of the surrounding water, its way too dry." Kakashi said shielding his face from the smoke speeding past his face.

"**You might be making things worse."** Yoko commented, knowing how he concealed the use of his bloodline with the guise that he was using Kiri's special technique.

"I'm not amazed that you could analyze what I'm doing. But you must realize that you don't know what happening while I'm in this mist." Naruto's voice bounced throughout the smoke.

A pair of cuts appeared along Kakashi's right arm, showing the Jonin that he was able to get as close to him as he wanted. Kakashi winced as he clutched his arm. The blonde hit places that weren't protected by his Jonin vest. "A technique derived from Kirigakure. It brings the possibility that you spent time in the Mist village. Or at least saw it in action, to be able to emulate it for yourself." Kakashi stated covering his Sharigan eye as it was pointless to have it uncovered since it couldn't pierce the chakra laced smoke.

The scarecrow widened his senses, only able to use his hearing and danger sense. Speaking of his danger sense, it went off and he batted aside a projectile before it could pierce his neck. He couldn't clearly see what it was before it disappeared into the vapor, but he did notice it was bright blue.

Again he sensed danger and leapt to the side. Nearly immediately he bumped into a tree and two air bullets impacted his vest, protecting his torso to a degree.

He skidded along the ground, holding his chest in slight pain. He shook his head and released the direction disrupting Genjutsu plaguing his mind. "Lacing the smoke with a Genjutsu shows another one of your abilities. Also your style of fighting me shows how you could fight. But I want to see more." Before Kakashi could even form a single hand seal, he pivoted his body and blocked the _Ivory_ knife. Kakashi could clearly see the top half of Naruto's body, along with the arm he was attacking with. He was glad he had metal plated gloves on, or he would be down a hand.

The Jonin showed his expertise by quickly pushing the blade to the left while he spun and roundhouse kicked the blonde back into the dense smoke.

A splat noise was heard and Kakashi looked down to barely see a glob of blood. He bent and wiped it with his finger. "Guess what Naruto-kun?" Kakashi started, knowing the blonde was immediately regretting attacking the way he did.

No response was given as Naruto righted himself before he crashed into the tree. He landed feet first and used chakra to cushion his impact. The medium sized tree still broke and Naruto skidded while the tree toppled on its side.

Naruto held his stomach and cursed at the Jonin's goading. 'I'm leaving this place.' Naruto thought spitting out another glob of blood, before he turned tail and ran.

"I have your scent, **Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Kiba."** (Fanged Pursuit) the blonde heard before multiple tremors were felt under the ground.

Naruto cursed as he was forced to stop, before two small dogs shot out of the ground in front of him. He acted fast and kicked one away and slashed at the other. He didn't get to see the results of his defense before three more small dogs shot out on his right, while two moderately, bigger dogs shot out on his left.

Survival instincts took over and his body was surrounded by smoke. The dogs crashed into each other as Naruto formed meters away from them. When he was fully formed a far larger dog shot out behind him, going straight for his neck.

Naruto cursed again as he did a front flip and kicked the dog in its jaw. The momentum, the large canine was already going, and the force of Naruto's kick caused it to over shoot the blonde and crash into a tree front of them.

Multiple yelping filled the blonde's ears as he ran in a new direction. "Fucking dogs!" Naruto yelled as the barking grew closer to him.

"**They're summons. If you injure them enough they'll dispel back to their own plane of existence."** Yoko barked in anxiety. **"You could always use this fight to push yourself further beyond your abilities. So that next time you see **_**him**_** you can defeat him."**

The young blonde knew damn well she wasn't referring to Kakashi. He knew exactly who she was talking about. 'You're right. I'll never get stronger if I don't push myself.' Naruto replied.

He had to quickly skid to a halt when Kakashi suddenly appeared in front of him with a concealed smile beneath his mask.

It didn't take the academy student long to realize that he was biding his dogs time to catch up. Naruto growled and dashed straight at the man.

He threw a straight right and was thoroughly surprised that it connected, resulting in the man to disappear in a burst of smoke. "Clone?" Naruto muttered in disbelief as growlls made themselves known all around the blonde.

Naruto looked around to see seven of the previous eight dogs. Not far away was Kakashi, leaning against a tree. "If you want to survive, you have to show me more of your skills. Otherwise you're going to be ripped to shreds." he said before flipping open the same book from before.

Naruto glared at the silver haired bastard, clenching his fist around each of his custom knives. "Fuck it!" he yelled as the canines charged.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

Naruto groaned over the shoulder of the scarecrow, who was carrying him. Blood stained his clothes through the long gashes in his skin. The most intense ones were nearly closed by the time they arrived at the hospital.

Naruto had given Yoko an order to only heal the life threatening gashes. He needed some time to think and an excuse to be in the hospital.

The residential nurses shrieked at the amount of blood dripping freely through some of Naruto's wounds. Though they were moving at slow paces.

Nearly immediately the staff moved into action and Naruto was soon carted into one of the emergency rooms. They were going to work on cleaning the wounds before closing them.

One of the doctors stayed out and grilled Kakashi about what happened. "It was training gone wrong. You know how the younger generation is, they love to push themselves further beyond their own abilities." Kakashi said before he started leaving.

"That kid isn't even a Genin yet!" the doctor yelled at the Jonin's retreating back.

**[Hokage's Office]**

Kakashi went straight to the Hokage when he left the hospital. The trip only took him a matter of minutes. "I'm sure you watched the entire thing Hokage-sama. What do you think?" that was the first thing to come out of the Jonin's mouth when he entered the office.

True to the man's word, a crystal ball was placed in the middle of the desk in front of the old man. "Yes, I saw everything. I knew there was something the blonde was hiding. I've had that feeling since the first day he returned to the village. You were right to use that amount of force, he's clearly changed." Hiruzen said gravely as he stood.

He looked torn, not even a smoke would have calmed his nerves. "Exactly. The boy that left this village, is not the same one that returned. But look on the bright side." Kakashi spoke with that same concealed smile.

Hiruzen slowly turned his narrowed eyes to look the Jonin in the eye. "What the hell could be bright about this situation?" he asked with an angry undertone.

The smile never left the Jonin's masked face. "Somebody already started his training. If we were to get him to come to our side, it would surely disappoint whoever brainwashed the boy in the first place."

Hiruzen's face stayed the same as he continued to stare at the other man. "You better explain what's going on through that mind of yours. If you hadn't realized, that's impossible after what just happened." Hiruzen yelled in anger as he finally grabbed his pipe.

It seemed the smile on the Jonin's face widened in length. "Because I know who trained him."

Hiruzen took a long drag of his pipe before exhaling a puff of smoke. "Pray tell?"

**[Back in the Hospital - Mindscape]**

Naruto slept in the infirmary. The doctors had already worked on closing his, nearly healed, cuts. It only took them ten minutes to complete their task. It already being nearly done helped them a lot.

That was at least an hour ago and Naruto was busy in his mind talking to Yoko, thinking of a game plan. They didn't think that someone would seriously pick a fight with them like that. It would have been better if it was simply a Chunin.

The demoness wasn't mad at him for revealing the small amount of skill he had. It was his instincts that intervened when he needed them most. That's what most fights were, relying on your instincts to survive.

Naruto groaned as he pulled back a bright blue string of a bright blue bow, both being made of his own chakra. He released it and launched the three hundredth arrow over the lake in front of him.

The bow was a full meter long and was fully adaptable, since it was made from chakra. As the arrow traveled over the lake, a small fissure split apart the lake.

Yoko stood on the other end of the half mile wide lake. She watched as the thin arrow impacted the boulder, right in the middle of the bulls-eye that was painted on it, causing it to split vertically. **"Great you've certainly have gotten better, this past year. Though you still need work. What did I tell you?"** she asked while repairing the boulder as the arrow slowly dematerialized.

Naruto sighed, having heard as if he was right next to her. "You said I needed to work on making it so that the lake doesn't get affected at all." Naruto recited for the hundredth time.

"**Exactly. I can easily tell you're only focusing on accuracy right now. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, considering everything would be pointless if you couldn't hit the broadside of a barn if you were right next to it." **she said giving him the signal to continue.

"Yes I know, you told me that already." the blonde said pulling back the light blue chakra string, creating another arrow. Blood was seeping through his fingers at the amount of exertion he was going through for pulling pure chakra the vast amount of times he has. "But I cant seem to launch an arrow that isn't detectable." Naruto said released the similarly blue arrow.

Again it flew over the water, making it part slightly, before it pierced the boulder's new bulls-eye. Yoko noticed the water parted slightly higher than the previous. She didn't have to question the reason for his small setback. She knew that he was still thinking about the fight, and how he could have done it different.

She couldn't lie to herself and say she wasn't thinking about the same thing. **'Why the hell did he attack? It couldn't be some sort of test. I don't really think it was out of hatred, I sensed no malice.'** she thought with her gloved hand on her chin. She thought of one thing, if she was in Naruto's shoes, she would have just killed him and left. But the blonde didn't have her strength. **"Oh wait, I think I know."** she thought out loud after Naruto shot two more arrows.

"Know what?" Naruto said as his chakra bow dissipated into the air. He checked his bandaged fingers. Blood continued to drip through the red coated wrappings. This was the price he had to pay for continuous exposure to pure chakra.

The blonde winced when he tried to move the fingers, but the pain was already dulling down. Yoko had crossed the lake by then and reached for Naruto's hand. He was naturally left handed, but she was making him learn with both hands, like her.

She coated both the index and middle fingers with her chakra and watched as the small lacerations closed. **"I figured out the reason why Kakashi attacked you. It makes the most sense."**

Naruto rose an eyebrow and leaned against the nearest tree. "Is it that the Sandaime finally cracked and ordered his most infamous Jonin to attack the extremely mysterious academy student?" Naruto asked as a stream of smoke escaped from his mouth.

Yoko's mouth was open in surprise. She didn't think the blonde would figure it out before her. She closed her mouth after a minute and gave him a smile, he was starting to use that brain of his. **"When did you figure it out?"** she asked leaning beside him.

Naruto slid down the bark of the tree, with Yoko following suit. Another stream of smoke left his mouth as he got situated on the ground. He looked up to the sky and blew out another stream of smoke, "After I shot my hundred and seventeenth arrow."

"**I guess its obvious that the old man knows about us now. He obviously doesn't know about the details, like he wanted, but I'm sure he knows just who abducted you all those years ago."** Yoko explained.

Naruto nodded, "There's also the chance that Kakashi got a peek under the bandages. I remember being slashed across the chest and bit along the arms." Naruto said, though he was proud he was able to successfully defeat all the dogs, even with the restrictions he placed on himself.

"**He has up to two choices, maybe three. He could either try to make you switch sides somehow, he could send that ANBU squad back and keep a closer eye on you, or he could seal your chakra forever and imprison you for life. I don't think I have to tell you which choice is the most reasonable of plays for you." **Yoko said standing to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Naruto asked standing as well.

"**I'm sleepy. I'm going to bed. Let's just hope everything goes smoothly from this point on." **she said leaving with a yawn.

Naruto watched her leave with color on his cheeks. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her rear and he knew that she knew this, by the way her hips swayed.

He shook his head and decided he too should leave. He stood with new eyes. If Yoko was right it was no longer time for him to creep around. But it also meant he couldn't frequent the ROOT cellar like he intended for the next year.

He frowned, it wasn't like he needed too. In truth, he just wanted to scope the place out and get a feel for it.

His electric blue bow blazed to life and he pulled on its string. An arrow materialized and he immediately shot it across the lake. The lake was completely still as the arrow hastily flew over it. He smirked when he noticed this. That meant that it was nearly undetectable, being the lowest that was humanly possible.

When the arrow impacted the boulder's bulls-eye it exploded in a shower of rocky shrapnel. "It's time to stop hiding. I was meant to be in the open anyway." Naruto smirked as his body vanished from view.

**[Konoha Hospital - Reality]**

Naruto immediately scanned the room and his face promptly scowled. "I see you're finally awake. It took you long enough, did you spend the entire time talking to Yoko-chan?" a voice said to the blonde's left.

Naruto reluctantly opened his eyes and glared at his object of discomfort. "What do you want, Kabuto?"

Kabuto Yakushi was a seventeen year old Genin with ashen gray hair styled into a ponytail. A pair of circle framed glasses was wore over his onyx colored eyes. His attire consisted of a, high collared, dark purple shirt, with a white undershirt. A pair of matching purple, fingerless, gloves that covered his entire forearm, stopping just beneath the elbows.

His pants were dark purple as well and he was wearing the standard, blue, ninja sandals. His shuriken holster was on his right leg.

A Konoha headband was around his forehead, keeping his bangs out of his eyes.

The glasses wearing teen smirked as he pushed his circle framed glasses fully over his eyes. The lens shined maliciously as he chuckled. "Don't be like that Naruto-kun. I thought we were friends, brothers even?"

"You thought wrong you sadistic bastard!" Naruto yelled as he say up. "Now back to my original question, what do you want?" Naruto questioned clenching his new bandaged fists.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing. Is that such a bad thing?" Kabuto chuckled his reply, a question of his own.

Naruto growled and his electric blue arrow made its quick reappearance. He cocked an arrow ready at the blink of an eye and held it to Kabuto's own eye.

"This is new." Kabuto simply said staring into the slightly fluctuating chakra with interest.

"Two choices Kabuto. Leave or spend the rest of the day reforming your head… if that's possible for you." Naruto said knowing about Kabuto's amazing medical abilities. He wanted to find out if the teen could regenerate after such intense damage.

Kabuto continued to stare into Naruto's angry blue eyes. "Alright Naruto-kun, I don't know what I did to make you hate me, but I'll back down for now." he said taking a step back to prove his statement.

The Jinchuriki continued to glare at the medic nin, he wasn't sure if he should let the teen off the hook.

"But you should know that since _that_ was seen…" he said pointing at the area where Naruto's curse mark resided. "Your cover has been blown. I'm quite shocked really, I expected it be blown earlier." he said with a thought.

At that moment the doorknob rattled quickly. His weapon quickly disappeared and he put his hands down.

Ino quickly barged into the tension filled room, but she didn't notice. She worriedly ran to the hospitalized blonde's side. "Oh Kami, Naruto-kun, what happened?" she immediately asked, showing her concern.

Naruto frantically tried to remove Ino's hands from his face and body. "Why are you in the hospital? Are you still hurt? Does this hurt?" she continued to barrage him with questions.

"Ino calm down!" Naruto frantically yelled. "Geez, you're acting like an overprotective girlfriend."

Ino quickly grasped Naruto's face, held it firmly in her hands and glared into his eyes. Her left cheek was puffed out a little.

Naruto was still, confused at the female blonde. "Maybe that's what I want to be." she nearly yelled before quickly pressing her lips against his.

It was a powerful kiss, chaste, but powerful nonetheless. Naruto's eyes were wide in surprise and he didn't react at all.

Ino ended the kiss with her face completely red. She dropped to her knees, completely embarrassed at her own actions. She continued to mutter apologies, softly touching her lips, while Naruto stared at her.

The male blonde turned his eyes to the equally shocked Kabuto. "This day was just full of surprises. Well I left you a gift. When you find it, you'll quickly rethink my position as your enemy." Kabuto said as he left, laughing all the while, until an even louder shushing noise stopped him.

Naruto didn't search for Kabuto's apparent gift and just looked back at the apologizing girl, who stole his first kiss.

"What are you two doing?" a voice said at the doorway.

Ino squeaked, as if she was caught doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing, and blushed even more. Naruto looked at the doorway to see the Hokage, the person he shoved to the back of his head due to recent events.

"Nothing at all Hokage-sama. I was just leaving, bye." Ino quickly said in one breath while she retreated back home.

The blonde's eyes never left the eyes of the Hokage. "Naruto, we need to talk." the old man said with a calculating face.

Naruto allowed a frown to mar his face. "I couldn't agree more."

Hiruzen walked fully into the room, nearly slamming the door shut. "Alright I'll start, I know you don't have amnesia. Your fight with Kakashi has proved as much. Now fess up and give me any of your bullshit!" the Sandaime ordered with a stern glare straight into Naruto's eyes.

A cold shiver ran up Naruto's spine as the words were as cold as ice. He held his hand against his forehead and leaned back a little. "You're right Hiruzen, I do remember everything that happened these past five years. I confess that during that time, I went through rigorous training from my sensei, your former student, Orochimaru.

This just seemed to confirm what Kakashi told him prior. "Let me see your curse mark." Sarutobi ordered.

The blonde nodded and reached for his chest. His previous undershirt had been ripped to shreds and was replaced by bandages. A few tugs later and his Curse Mark of Earth was visible for the Hokage's eyes.

Hiruzen widened his eyes at the unique seal. This was the second of Orochimaru's cursed seals he's seen, the other being on Anko Mitarashi. "This one is different compared to the other one I've seen." he said focusing on the design.

Naruto nodded, closing his eyes. "Yes, the Heaven seal from Anko-san, Orochimaru's former apprentice. The one who refused Orochimaru's gift. I don't blame her for that, but I do hate that she doesn't use it. The power it gives you is magnificent." Naruto said with a smirk as he reopened his eyes.

The Hokage couldn't doubt that the look in Naruto's eyes were shocking and terrifying to see in one who used to be filled with joy. He cleared his throat. "So its really true, you were trained by the most dangerous ninja to defect from this village. You even have a summoning contract with snakes, to prove the point even further…" Hiruzen said with a hand absent mindedly stroking his beard.

Naruto mentally scoffed at that. Orochimaru wasn't the most dangerous, that title easily went to Itachi. "I'm sensing a 'but' here."

The Hokage's features seemed to soften. "But, that doesn't mean we have to be on opposite sides." the old man said making the blonde mentally smirk.

'Nailed it perfectly Yoko-chan.' Naruto thought closing his eyes in mock thought. "Are you suggesting I betray the man that trained me, no matter how sadistic it was. That's kind of rude, don't you think?" the blonde questioned, his eyes still closed while he scratching his whiskered cheeks.

The old man studied the young blonde. He had to play this close to the vest. He wanted to bring him over, not push him further away. "I wouldn't say betray, more like, return to your rightful side. You know damn well how evil he could be. I just hope I could save you, since I couldn't save him. There's still a chance to save you." the man said glancing at the ground in remorse.

Even though Naruto didn't have his eyes open, he could hear the absolute remorse in the leader's voice. "I wouldn't call the man evil. After all, he did tell me who my parents were." Naruto said sternly while opening his eyes to look out the window.

The gears in the Sandaime's brain worked to come up with a response. Considering what he knew about his old student, what would be the point in revealing the boy's heritage. There was no doubt he already knew about the Kyuubi. Or it was possible that it was a trap from the blonde himself, to get the him to reveal the secret he's been wanting to know since before he was taken from him.

If it was necessary for the blonde to know about his heritage so he could return to his side, it was worth it. "You're father, the Minato Namikaze, would disapprove of you being around Orochimaru. And if I know your mother, Kushina Uzumaki, which I did, she would kill you herself." Hiruzen said waiting for the blonde to be shocked and yell that he was the son of the Fourth Hokage.

Instead the blonde simply smiled brightly. "Was that so hard Oji-san?" Naruto said with tears welling in his eyes. Of course he already knew this piece of information, but it was always nice to fool an old man.

Hiruzen was surprised and hugged the young blonde, who just broke down. He didn't know if it was real or fake, but he just allowed the boy to sob into his cloak. Naruto then proceeded to tell the Hokage about the atrocities he went through during Orochimaru's training, and when he was given the cursed seal.

The Sandaime deduced that it was real and consoled the child for half an hour before he fell asleep in his arms.

**[Hospital - Hours Later]**

Naruto woke up some odd hours later, to see that it was still daylight out. Although the sun looked as if it was going to turn in for the night in another hour or so.

For some reason Naruto felt a large weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He looked around the room to see that it was empty. Only an open window was to his right.

He hopped off the bed and stretched his muscles. He then begun to unwrap his bandages, revealing his toned torso. Both of his seals marked his body and he slowly traced a finger over the Cursed Seal of Earth. He noticed that it looked like someone had placed a seal around it.

His eye's twitched, he didn't expect the wily old man to seal it like that. 'What the fuck? Who does that, while someone is sleeping?' Naruto thought in anger as he watched, in the mirror, as the seal around it disintegrated completely. Luckily it relied on the will of the user, so it was easy to break through.

It was then that he remembered Kabuto's words. So he lifted both of his hands and studied them. He began unwrapping the tape from his right hand first, when he didn't find anything he searched the other hand.

He found another Cursed Seal of Earth on the back of his hand. He knew better than to think it was another cursed seal, it was clearly for designing purposes. 'Okay, I'll check what's inside later.' He thought rewrapping both hands.

He just now noticed that he was only wearing his black and white boxers. He blinked a few times in thought. "Where the hell are my shorts?" Naruto muttered with a twitch of his eye.

**A/N: That's where this story ends. I'm just playing, its just the end of the chapter. To whoever reads this story, thank you and please review it.**

**This was the last of the prewritten chapters I have for this story, but I'll keep trying to update this story, and all my stories, faster. As a matter of fact, tell me which story should be updated next.**

**Please and thank you,**

**JayJay**


	4. Newfound Freedoms

**Sorry for the lateness, my computer was experiencing some problems. It seems to have gotten it's ish together, so here I am. I'm grateful for your reviews last chapter and now I'm ready to give you another.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any abilities from any other anime, movie, or whatever._

**Lost & Found Chapter Four: Newfound Freedoms**

**[Naruto's Apartment]**

Ten minutes passed and Naruto finally entered his apartment. He was glad, Kaede was still on her mission, he didn't need any teasing at the moment.

When he closed his door his face split into a wider grin than it was in the morning. **"You are quite the actor Naruto-kun."** Yoko said speaking for the first time in a while.

'Why thank you Yoko-chan. I have to say I surprised myself.' Naruto thought shrugging off the hospital gown he snatched before escaping the hospital. He turned back to the door and bit his thumb and smeared the blood along the middle of it.

A seal array came to life and his apartment was now impenetrable.

Yoko laughed rather loudly. **"I know you surprised me, when you fell asleep out of nowhere."**

Naruto chuckled as his bandages began to slowly break into smoke. 'I ran out of things to say that wouldn't reveal anything big about the past five years.' Naruto thought as the entire length of the bandages turned to smoke, they rematerialized in the air before falling to the floor. The blonde felt some of his chakra returning to him and he smiled at the seal on his left hand.

He wasn't ready to see what Kabuto gifted to him. Right now, he was starving and luckily he had just the thing to sate his hunger. Ramen noodles were always his answer to emergency meals. It didn't take him long to prepare and it was delicious on his taste buds.

Minutes later and his meal was ready for eating. The noodles didn't stand a chance and he was finished in less time than it took him to prepare it. Fortunately they were fulfilling enough to keep his mind off of being hungry for awhile. **"Go on, check the seal. I'm dying to find out what Kabuto gave you."**

'Alright alright, calm down.' Naruto said before unsealing the item, before shock entered his eyes.

"**You know, that Kabuto sure knows how to be a team player."** Yoko spoke after a few minutes of silence.

All Naruto could do was hold the small cylinder shaped container, filled with medical liquid, and stare at the floating pair of white, featureless, eyes. 'I might have to agree with you there. I only asked for one, but he gives me two." Naruto murmured the last part.

He encased his hands in chakra and removed the two ocular orbs, being ever gentle. **"Remember what you trained for. It's going to take a little longer, considering we only trained for one. I hope you don't have plans for the next few hours." **Yoko said getting comfortable.

Naruto slowly sat on his cot and breathed softly as his chakra began surrounding the orbs. He closed his eyes as he focused entirely on the eyes in his hands.

What he was doing was making it so that the foreign eyes would be compatible with his body, more so his own bloodline. He never had to do this, so he didn't know what the estimated time of completion would be.

Right now his own chakra was battling the remaining chakra that still remained stored in the eyes.

He couldn't simply overpower, and defeat, the chakra. He could, but that would prove detrimental to his goal and forever hamper the ocular abilities. No, his goal was to coax the chakra and let it merge with his own. That will provide him with the full abilities and could ever enhance them, to a degree.

Of course this was all in theory. But if he had to choose, he would easily choose the latter of theories.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

Hiruzen stood in his office. He was sure, that, by the time Naruto woke up we'll be on his way home. He was rather proud of the boy for revealing what he knew. It seemed like he was back to normal, well as normal as things could be now.

He looked out the window of his large office and stared at the head of the boy's father. 'Minato-kun, your boy's growing up faster than we're ready for.' thought luckily, the blonde had a friend in young Ino.

He was sure that if Naruto was beginning to go back towards Orochimaru, she would steer him back to her.

Fortunately his confession gave him a legitimate reason to put ANBU back on him. After all he was a security risk, and a strong one. 'No doubt Chunin level, if not higher. He made it clearly apparent that he was holding back, even against Kakashi.' in truth he didn't know if he should keep him in the academy.

But again, his thoughts went to Ino and her influence on him. He knew the two shared a kiss in the hospital room, and he knew that after more time with her, Naruto would begin revealing where Orochimaru might be hiding.

He didn't feel any guilt from using the young platinum blonde, Naruto had the potential of being the biggest criminal Konoha ever produced.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

After three hours of 'negotiations' the stubborn eyes finally gave in. They slowly billowed into wispy streams of black smoke and circled above his hand.

Naruto flashed the proudest grin of his young life. He wiped his brow, finding it covered with a thick coat of sweat. "That took longer than I thought." Naruto heaved, finding himself, partially, out of breath.

"**Indeed, that was some stubborn chakra. It was like the entire Hyuga clan was trying to stop you." **Yoko commented as the cloud of smoke separated into two separate balls of smoke.

'That is why it's better to merge my bloodline with chakraless items.' Naruto thought while extending both of his hands out, each of his palms facing a swirling mass of smoke.

Nearly instantly, the smoke shot into his hands. Both of the hands showed a thick black bar fashioned into a circle, with a second, smaller and very thin, circle inside it.

He reached over for his bandages and the moment he grabbed them, they exploded in a cloud of smoke and quickly slithered around his arms. Seconds later and they were back to being bandages. The next night he had to work on switching eyes. If a mistake was made, he might have to resort to asking Kabuto for help.

**[One Year Later]**

Another year passed and things have changed just a little bit. Naruto sat atop the Hokage mountain, on his father's nose. He always found himself atop that mountain, just enjoying the view with his stolen eyes.

Since this was the year that he was going to become a ninja of Konoha, his attire changed. He was wearing a dark green Gi, that was loose around his arms. The bandages were still around his arms. He wore black cargo pants and he wore black ninja sandals. Under his Gi, was a tight black muscle shirt, that barely covered his Cursed Seal of Earth.

During the past year, Hiruzen would send Kakashi to check on his Cursed Seal and would keep sealing it back up. Naruto got real tired of it and just left it sealed during the past three months or so.

Speaking of the past year, after that following year of training he could finally feel that he's passed the mark of Chunin. He was now, clearly, Jonin level. Having the Byakugan helped some, he found that he could see up to five hundred meters, comfortably.

That was amazing, but nothing special compared to some Hyuga that could clearly see several more hundred meters than he could. He never used the Dojutsu in public, because there wasn't much he could do to conceal the bulging veins from view. Those stupid veins were way too visible for his liking.

He's been thinking of a solution to that problem. If he was able to mix the properties of both pairs of eyes to create one pair, then that would save him lots of wasted time in switching. It could be like a regular Dojutsu, in which he was able to activate and deactivate upon command.

He's already sent Orochimaru a message concerning his situation, now he was just waiting on the man to give him the answer. He felt that he might need a set of burner eyes, a pair that he could discard quickly when he was finished with them.

He frowned and exhaled a long stream of smoke from the cigarette between his fingers. He switched his eyes to normal with a blink of his eyes. Whichever pair of eyes weren't in use, were sealed under his eye lids.

Yoko was actually the one to give him that idea… maybe with that he could have them act like a Dojutsu, but it just wasn't the same. A blink of your eyes could mean certain death while in a fight.

There was a time when he walked through the village with the Byakugan activated. He had a masking Genjutsu around his eyes, though he almost got caught by a few Hyuga.

He leaned his head back into the bridge of his father's nose and exhaled another stream of smoke. He knew he had about fifteen minutes before he needed to get to class and take his exam. He grinned, feeling himself shudder with excitement. The boring portion of his life was exiting with every minute that went by during that day.

This day also meant that he was one more step closer to completing his plan. On the road to completion, was the strength needed and he wasn't going to forget to pick it up.

He put out the cigarette, using his father's nose. He patted the spot and stood to his feet. "I'm not sure, if this is the way you wanted my life to be father." Naruto said turning his head and looking at Minato's face. "But I cant hate you for choosing this for me."

He leapt off the mountain and promptly broke down into black smoke, which quickly thinned out clearly into the air. He let the wind guide him stealthily to the academy.

**[Academy Grounds]**

Naruto materialized on a tree branch in the academy training ground. He cracked his neck and surveyed the area.

It was empty, save for about two young students having some last minute sparring. Naruto shook his head before silently dropping to the ground. He spared the duo a last minute glance before turning and walking towards the building.

He had about ten minutes before class started, so he wasn't in any hurry. The following year hadn't been following his routine at all. It was to such a degree, that he hadn't seen Kaede in three months.

He sighed, it might have been Ino's doing a bit. She was always clinging onto him, wherever he went. He wasn't sure if she knew about his bloodline, but if she did, she wasn't revealing any clues.

She was slowly wiggling her way into his heart, and he had to admit, he was loving the attention. Nobody in Oto gave him that kind of attention, which he was glad for, as it was mostly dudes there anyway.

Speaking of the platinum blonde, she was waiting for him. She was wearing the same attire as always, so there wasn't any difference in her appearance. Except for the fact that her hair got longer, reaching the middle of her shoulder blades. Though he knew that without her magical hair band, it was far longer. When he saw, it was clearly reaching the middle of her back.

She clung to his arm and smiled brightly at her blonde boyfriend. "What took you so long Naruto-kun?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the unnecessary concern rolling off her tongue. "I was thinking on the way." he simply responded.

"What about?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.

"Stuff." Naruto said, chuckling at her pouting lips. "You want to relax on the roof before class starts?" the male blonde offered, making her smile.

Ino nodded her head as Naruto wrapped his arm around her waist. She shrieked in surprise before Naruto jumped high into the air. The wandering students around the area looked at the two in jealousy. Some of them were envious about how much time the two blondes were spending with each other. Those two were like the perfect couple, something for them to beg for when it was their turn to be taken.

Ino giggled when her feet touched the roof of the academy. She really should have expected Naruto to do something like that. "How about a little warning next time?" she playfully complained, still in her fit of giggles.

Naruto didn't let her from his grip as he dropped down onto one of the steps, chuckling the entire way down. The platinum blonde sat in his lap and he held her closer to him. "Sure Ino-chan, I'll warn you next time." he said kissing her cheek.

The whiskered blonde really didn't know why his behavior changed when he was around Ino, maybe he wasn't meant to be a bad guy. He had to search deep inside himself and ask that question, was he really a bad guy?

He shook his head, ridding his mind of the corrupting thoughts. Of course he was bad, he was just using his relationship with Ino as a cover.

Fingers, pinching his cheek, brought him out of his daze. "You didn't even hear me, did you?" Ino asked with a pout, while pulling his cheeks outward.

The whiskered blonde winced and shook his head, carefully, with an embarrassed look on his face. "Sorry Ino-chan. What is it you wanted to say?" he mumbled before his cheeks were released.

"Well I wanted to ask you if we had enough time for a quick spar?" she asked with a coy smile.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Why do you always want to fight me?" Naruto asked already knowing the answer as he rubbed his cheeks.

The female blonde, not only saw him as the love of her life, but also as a sort of measurer. With him, she was able to properly gauge her own skills. He seemed way too strong for his age.

Of course, she was suspicious of how he got so strong. Her suspicions were squashed when she began her training with him. After the first day of seeing his physical training, everything about him seemed to make sense. If you work hard, you get excellent results.

She leapt to her feet with her hands on her hips. "My father told me to keep doing whatever it was that I was doing. He's very impressed with how my skills seem to be progressing. He thought it would take me longer to learn the basics, considering I'm with you all the time. He thought my mind would be filled with nothing but boys." she said with a proud smirk.

Naruto sighed as he crossed his arms. It was true, Ino had grown stronger this past year as well. Though most of her time has spent relaxing, not having tenth of the amount of stamina Naruto had, but at least her chakra capacity was growing as well. Naruto had already introduced her to tree walking and she was always trying to gain full control of her growing chakra.

"You still haven't told him I'm helping with your training?"

Ino smiled brightly. "Of course not." she said with an innocent tilt of her head.

Naruto blushed at the cuteness of her smile. **"Aw! She's so cute! I cant even be mad you're spending so much time with her and neglecting me." **Yoko squealed inside Naruto's mind.

"Naruto-kun, you should know that a daughter is a father's most precious person to him. I'm his princess, if I told him you were training me, he would want you to go easy on his little princess and watch you like a hawk. That's why, I have to tell him, that I only passed because you trained me." she informed him, mentally patting herself on the back for the genius plan to get her father to accept Naruto as her suitor.

Naruto blinked at her closed eyes. "Your genius knows no bounds." he said closing his own eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose. Between Ino and Yoko, he sensed that his sanity was close to flying out the window. He released a sigh and slowly opened his eyes.

Ino was right in front of his face, lips puckered waiting for his kiss. He kissed her lips for a quick second. "Okay Ino-chan, after the exam, I'll spar with you." he said kissing her again.

"Good answer." she said with a mild blush as the first of two bells rung loudly. "Lets get this over with." she said happily before taking Naruto's hand and pulling him to his feet.

**[Fifteen Minutes Later]**

Naruto leaned against his academic test with a bored look on his face. He had finished ten minutes ago and had resorted to spinning his pencil on his finger for entertainment. He was using his chakra to keep it floating a quarter of an inch above the tip of his finger, it was a great chakra control technique he made a few years ago.

His entertainment didn't seemed to be working well because he was still bored. He put his pencil down and looked around the class. He was sitting, smack dab, in the middle of the room. He loved that he was surrounded the way he was. It was the perfect spot, for him, to survey the entire class.

Though there was one, minor and major, annoyance. Sasuke Uchiha was sitting directly behind him. It was amusing to feel his Sharingan enhanced glares, for the first three months, after the blonde forced it out.

But now, it was just sad. The boy showed promise, but he was no Itachi Uchiha. He had his second tomoe and was working on the third at the moment. The only requirement he needed was to have a serious fight with someone faster than him.

The blonde knew this, because he had around a dozen snakes throughout the Uchiha compound. The Uzumaki knows everything the lone Uchiha does, while the Uchiha doesn't have a clue what the Uzumaki does.

Though there was only about a dozen snakes, in the entire contract, that could actually speak English, the others just hissed and it was very hard for his ears to find there meanings in the first few months. So he had a few translating problems during those months. But he quickly picked up on things and now he could speak with any and all snakes.

The two locked eyes, the blonde's never changing from his bored expression. Naruto wasn't afraid of the Uchiha putting him in a Genjutsu, since Yoko was inside him, ready to disrupt his chakra in an instant.

"Alright class, pencils down and eyes forward. Mizuki-san, collect the papers." Iruka said.

Naruto smirked and turned his head to the front as everyone gasped in surprise as their papers vanished from sight, while they were still writing on them. Naruto turned his attention to Ino, who was sitting right beside him. "How'd you do?" he asked to which she smiled softly.

"I think I did alright. I think we should have spent, just a little more time studying at the library. I don't think I got the perfect score I was aiming for." she said, knowing that Naruto was rookie of the year, and the smartest girl was on the rookie of the year's team. In truth, she only knew that, because Naruto told her so.

Naruto rubbed her back, knowing what was going through her mind. "Don't fret about anything Ino-chan. I'm sure you did just as fine as you think." Naruto said with a bright smile.

But he thought about something he talked to the Hokage about. He needed to be on a team with Sasuke, giving the old man the reason that, he wouldn't be able to properly apologize to the boy if they were on different teams. He told the Hokage that Sasuke would think that his apology would be out of cowardice since he was going to a different team. Of course all of that was bologna, but he just hoped the old man allowed it. He didn't care which girl was on his team, as long as he had a reason to watch Sasuke's skills progress further.

"Alright class, lets start continue to the three basic techniques. Those who successfully pull off the techniques will pass, those who don't… better luck next year." Mizuki said as he motioned for everyone to gather outside.

**[Hokage's Office - One Hour Later]**

Hokage sat on the edge of his desk, while reading the document that held which students passed the exam and which failed. He was proud to see thirty of the thirty five students passed. He perfect number in his opinion.

He began writing numbers next to names, working on putting them in teams and minutes later he came at a stop. He narrowed his eyes and Naruto's name. He wanted to be paired with Sasuke for an asinine reason.

But he couldn't simply deny his request. With the confession of his secrets, he began to train openly to his hawking eye. And he knew, with his growing skills, only Kakashi was able to keep him under control if he was to spiral out of control. Kakashi was also needed to train Sasuke in his Sharingan so that decision was quite easy.

Though seeing as how Naruto was the rookie of the year, and Sasuke wasn't the dead last, he came to impasse. It would mess up his whole system that he put together to keep the dead last with the rookie of the year, along with the smartest female.

"Damn it Naruto." Hiruzen mumbled before throwing caution to the wind. He finished the team selection and handed the paper to a waiting Jonin. The man nodded and body flickered out of the office.

If things didn't work out, he could always transfer everyone back to his initial system.

**[Ten Minutes Later]**

"Team Seven is Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno, your sensei is Kakashi Hatake." Iruka said as a cheering Sakura and a groaning Ino sounded in the background. "Team Eight is Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka, your sensei is Kurenai Yuji. Team Nine is still active. Team Ten is Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, and Choji Akimichi, your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi. Now that everyone's got their team, wait here for your sensei to come pick you up." Mizuki said shooting Naruto a concealed glance before he and Iruka left.

Naruto slowly rubbed Ino's back. "Its alright Ino, we'll hang out during our times off." Naruto consoled as the distraught girl leaned into his touch. Their new headbands adorning their foreheads.

"I cant believe I lost to Forehead in the academics department. I cant believe she's still such a bookworm." Ino whined into her hands as Sakura continued to do her victory dance in the background.

Who could blame her, she was with the strongest students in their year. She was absolutely ecstatic, maybe she could even get both of them to love her. The pinkette looked at both of the boys and narrowed her eyes. She had a lot of work to do.

Others in the class didn't really care what teams they were in, though there was one who was just as sad as Ino and that was Hinata.

The dark haired Hyuga didn't know how she was going to be able to return home with news that she failed to get on Naruto's team. She was literally ordered to get on his team and she failed. Maybe she should have copied off of Sakura's test. She looked at Naruto, concealed anger behind her orbs, she hated when her father berated her.

Naruto felt two pairs of eyes staring at him. He knew one was from Sasuke, since he never stopped glaring at him. He turned his head and immediately locked eyes with the Hyuga in the class. He blinked a few times while they looked at each other. Her clan must have a lot of suspicion about him.

They must have saw a glimpse of white under his Genjutsu before he switched his eyes back. He tore his eyes away from the girl when her sensei came to pick her and her team up.

That was also the moment when Ino had to leave too, since her sensei was with Hinata's sensei. Ino gave him a sad kiss on the lips before she left.

That was the first time she had kissed him on the lips around watching eyes. He guessed that, now that she had her headband it was alright now for people to gossip about the relationship.

Naruto leaned against his hand as he waited in the classroom as team after team was ushered out of the class.

Ten minutes later and it was just the members of team seven in the class. He could immediately tell that the atmosphere in the class shifted. Though he didn't know if it was a good shift or a bad shift, but he didn't like either. He stood to his feet. "When Kakashi comes, tell him I'm on the roof." Naruto said looking at them and mentally raising an eyebrow at the look he got from Sakura before using a simple body flicker to head to the roof.

When Naruto appeared on the roof, he turned his head to see Kakashi lying on his back with an orange book resting on his face. "Hello Hatake, we meet again." Naruto said crossing his arms.

Naruto narrowed his eyes when the sound of snoring reached his ears. **"Is it just me, or is that bastard sleeping?"** Yoko asked through seething teeth.

'The Hokage wouldn't get mad if I kill his best Jonin, would he?' Naruto thought before a black python slithered out from under his right sleeve. The hissing of the serpent was silent as it slithered further and further out from Naruto's sleeve. It was a very long and thick python, easily longer than eight feet and ten inches thick.

Naruto smirked as it swiftly wrapped around the silver haired Jonin, shocking him awake. It just as swiftly coiled around his body and squeezed tightly. Naruto's smirked vanished when the man's body exploded in a cloud of smoke and his python dropped to the floor. 'Kage Bunshin huh?' Naruto thought with a mental scowl.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do Naruto-kun. You know snakes are very dangerous creatures." Kakashi said appearing atop of the gate near the edge of the building.

Naruto smiled as the python slithered back up his sleeve. "Just wanted to tell you I'm here. You should know not to sleep when you have things to do." Naruto said as the tail of the python was fully submerged inside his Gi.

"Behave yourself Naruto-kun. You don't want things to go south, do you?" Kakashi spoke knowingly.

The whiskered blonde glared at the Jonin before smirking and crossing his arms. "Whatever you say Kakashi-_sensei_." the blonde said mockingly. "Now, how about you get the others. You made them wait long enough."

The silver haired Jonin smiled behind his mask. "I already did. They should be here in a few seconds." he said pointing at the door.

At that moment the two others walked through the door. Sasuke came through first as Sakura followed closely behind. The Uchiha glared at the duo before leaning against a small wall, adjacent to Naruto.

"Excellent, the team's all here. Come on you three, lets all sit down and relax. Why don't you three tell me about yourselves, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, and your dreams for the future. Naruto-kun why don't you start?" the scarecrow said looking at Naruto.

The blonde groaned as he and the others sat down on the steps. He sighed while he scratched his cheek in thought. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are training, and spending time with Ino. My dislikes are brats that keep staring at me." Naruto said directing his glare at Sasuke, who was still glaring at him. "My hobbies are the same as my likes and my dreams for the future…" Naruto trailed off as he smirked. "That's a story for another time."

Kakashi nodded, feeling the intro was adequate. "Alright, Mr. Brooder is next." the scarecrow said pointing at the Uchiha.

Sasuke glared at the Jonin and leaned his chin against his entwined fingers. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like a lot of things and I dislike most things. My hobbies are none of your business and my dreams for the future? No its not much of a dream, because I will make it a reality. I _will_ revive my clan and I _will_ kill two certain people." the Uchiha said with a glare in Naruto's direction before looking back at Kakashi.

Kakashi eye smiled while pointing at Sakura. "Your turn pinky."

Sakura only blushed and smiled. "My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are…" she trailed off glancing to both her sides. "My dislikes are a certain pig and stubborn people. My hobbies are _really_ personal." she said blushing deep red. "My dream for the future…" she said trailing off, just like Naruto did before her. "That's _really _personal too." she said with a trial of blood leaving her nose, before she quickly wiped it away.

Kakashi blinked his single eye a few times before he thought about his team. 'Okay, I have a killer with power, an avenger without power, and a crazed female loving both the killer and the avenger. This is going to be frustrating.' he thought before standing up. "Interesting… okay you three, I want you to meet me at training ground seven tomorrow morning. That's where we'll be conducting your real Genin test, just remember not to eat breakfast." Kakashi said before body flickering out of sight.

Naruto shook his head. "We could have simply did the test now. Seems like a big waste of time." he said rubbing the bridge of his nose while he followed Kakashi's example and vanished.

Sasuke quickly jumped off the roof before Sakura could pounce on him. The pink haired girl groaned and balled her fist in anger. "I will get you Sasuke-kun." she mumbled.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

Naruto hopped over buildings on his way to where he felt Ino's signature at. He promised the girl he was going to spar with her and he was fixing to keep that promise.

He entered a training ground and knew that he needed to travel through a few more before he reached Ino's location. But at that moment someone kicked him, except it harmlessly passed through him.

Naruto growled in annoyance as he looked at his attacker. "Oh its you. What do you want Anko Mitarashi?" Naruto said looking at Orochimaru's ex-apprentice.

"Oh nothing, I finally had some free time and I saw you passing by so, you know. I told myself that I was going to kill Orochimaru whenever I got the chance. When I think of you, I see the next best thing." she said sending a group of snakes heading his way.

The blonde simply stood there while the snakes went through him. He shook his head, "You do this every time you see me Anko. Don't you think ten times a week is enough?" he said as he hissed to the snakes and they quickly went back up Anko's sleeve.

"You even speak the language of snakes. That makes me even more angry." she yelled while running at the blonde.

Naruto shook his head and twisted and turned his body, dodging all her attacks. "Please Anko, Orochimaru still believes you can come back to him. All you have to do is stop being so stubborn." he said before grabbing each of her wrist and slamming her against a tree.

His python quickly returned and wrapped around Anko and the tree, squeezing just tight enough to keep her still, while a pure white viper slithered out of the blonde's left sleeve and bite into Anko's neck.

She silently screamed before Naruto shushed her. "Don't worry, its just a mild paralysis toxin. He had to inject you with a lot because we both know about your immunity to most, if not all, poisons. Aren't we a paranoid one?" Naruto said playfully as he released her wrist.

He smiled at her and his python loosened its hold around the woman. "Now I'm going to have to leave you here, I have places to go, people to see. I'll leave Amelia-chan here to protect you in the time being, okay?" Naruto said as the python fully released Anko and went back up Naruto's sleeve, while the pure white viper returned and loosely coiled around Anko's body.

The viper was around five feet long and six inches thick. Even though her scales were white, they didn't seemed to shine rainbow-like colors like some other snakes. "Take care of her, okay Amelia-chan."

"**Of courssse Naruto-sssamaa."** she hissed while her tongue flickered against Anko's cheek.

Naruto narrowed his eyes for a while before he turned. "Return to me when you sense your venom wearing off."

"**I underssstand. Now leave me and Anko-chan alone."**

The blonde chuckled and turned his head. "Have fun you two." he said winking before swirling into a mass of smoke and vanishing.

"**Amelia's going play with her isn't she?"** Yoko asked the blonde as he breezed through dozens of trees.

Naruto materialized and stopped just outside of a clearing. 'Of course. You know how Amelia-chan is.' he thought with a smirk.

The blonde chuckled and silently looked on into the clearing to see Ino and her new team, lead by Asuma Sarutobi. He knew that man from several visits in the past. It's his cigarettes that he's been constantly taking. 'Good times.' Naruto thought in a reminiscent manner.

The team of Genin's already seemed to be covered in a bit of dirt, indicating that they've already had their true Genin test and was being congratulated by their sensei.

"Excellent job you three. I have no doubt that you'll live up to your fathers' dreams and become the new Ino-Shika-Cho formation." Asuma praised while the preteens cheered in accomplishment. "Now how about we go out and properly celebrate the passing of your exams.

The new Genins cheered again and Choji suggested a BBQ restaurant that he loved going to. Seconds later, it was agreed and they were on their way.

The blonde was about to drop down and get Ino's attention, before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to see Mizuki standing there with a frown on his lips. "What is it you want Mizuki?"

"I need your help Naruto-sama." the silver haired Chunin said with a depressed tone.

Naruto turned his head to the retreating back of Ino and sighed. "Of course you do. You're incompetence is taxing on my nerves. It's a simple task I believed you could accomplish the moment I gave it to you." the blonde growled as Ino disappeared out of sight.

"I'm sorry Naruto-sama. The security is too tight for me to slip through." the Chunin complained to the blonde.

Naruto turned to Mizuki with red eyes. "You will do the mission or I'll end your life where you stand." he growled with elongated canines as his claws dug into the bark of the tree.

The silver haired Chunin visibly trembled as he quickly nodded and left the blonde's sight. **"I love it when you use such a commanding voice."** Yoko swooned.

The blonde took a deep breath and his appearance returned to normal. "I learned from the best." he thought out loud as he felt a snake slithering up his arm. He looked down to see pure white scales disappearing into his sleeve. 'Wow her immunity was a little more powerful than I anticipated.' Naruto thought as its only been a few minutes.

He could tell Amelia was not happy by how stiff she was. "There's always next time Amelia-chan." he said before her tail fully vanished. 'Things are already going south.' Naruto thought with an audible groan.

**[Several Hours Later]**

Naruto grinned as he and Ino continued to exchange multiple strikes. He had to be proud of Ino since she was one of the best Taijutsu fighters in the class because her unique style. She used momentum to her advantage, whether it was for offensive or defensive purposes.

Her swore, even though her attacks flowed like water, they packed a big punch.

He was on the defensive and grabbed her swinging leg and quickly caught the other as it was on his way. With her momentum halted for the time being Naruto promptly tossed her across the clearing.

She twisted and turned and harmlessly tucked and rolled into the surrounding trees. Naruto grinned and looked up at the moon. It wasn't providing a lot of light but he was glad she was using the surrounding darkness to her advantage.

"Very good Ino-chan, just how I taught you." Naruto said as his ears couldn't hear anything out of the ordinary. That is, until a faint snap of a twig reached them.

He quickly ducked under the kick, turned and grabbed Ino around her waist. "Excellent job Ino-chan. You're ready for the life of a ninja." he said before kissing her neck.

The sudden transition from fighting to seduction was rather unexpected for Ino. So much that she shrieked in surprise and grabbed Naruto's hair. "Stop Naruto-kun, you idiot." she said before giggling as his tongue touched a sensitive spot.

The two blondes dropped to the ground, because of Ino's wild movements. Grass impacted Naruto's back as Ino landed on him. "Don't go hurting yourself." she said softly gazing into her eyes. "Idiot." she said kissing him.

Naruto ran a hand through her hair and deepened the kiss as, only he heard, feet touch down on the ground a few meters away from them. He looked over, as best as he could without alerting Ino, and saw a retreating Mizuki holding onto a scroll.

Seconds later a squad of ANBU appeared, quickly following suit. 'Well shit, he was right. I cant have him squealing.' Naruto thought as a stream of smoke left his sleeve and followed the pursuit.

He grinned before closing his eyes and licking Ino's lips, asking for entry into her mouth. She moaned and opened her mouth as their kiss deepened even more.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

Mizuki continued to run as the ANBU squad quickly followed behind him. Mizuki looked behind him and cursed while throwing a few kunai.

He continued to run for a few more minutes before a few shuriken struck his legs. The Chunin stumbled and wildly threw one of his Fuma shurikens while he did a 360 degree spin.

The large projectiles were easily evade and more shurikens hit Mizuki's chest, due to his spin.

The Chunin cursed when he realized one of them was laced with wind and went deeper into his vest, actually cutting into his chest. He yelled in pain as he stumbled for awhile before falling to the floor.

The squad of ANBU landed around him. "We got him now. Lion prepare the thief for transport back." the Bear masked leader said before Mizuki quickly threw the other Fuma shuriken.

A quick substitution saved the approaching, Lion masked, ANBU from death. "Don't fight the inevitable Chunin." the man said before a cloud of black smoke forced itself inside of Mizuki's mouth.

The ANBU squad gasped in shock as Mizuki began wildly clutching at his throat. His lips were moving as if he was saying something, but no sound was leaving his throat. After a gulping motion, Mizuki seemed to calm down.

That was until Mizuki began clutching at his chest in serious pain. It was like his heart was being crushed.

The ANBU quickly grabbed onto Mizuki and slung him over his shoulder. "We have to get him to the hospital before he dies." the man said before he and the squad started running through the forest.

"But what the hell is happening to him. This isn't the work of a cyanide pill. I swore I saw something go into his mouth." a female ANBU, wearing a Turtle mask, said with a hint of panic. They were losing their capture by the second.

It was at that moment that Mizuki stopped moving completely. "The Chunin died just now." the Boar masked ANBU told the Lion masked comrade.

"What the hell just happened?" Bear yelled in anger as they saw a thick cloud of smoke leave both of Mizuki's nostrils.

"Whatever it was, this weird smoke had something to do with it." Turtle said before the smoke completely blended in with the air.

"Not telling Hokage-sama, one two three, not it." Boar quickly said before a chorus of 'not it' echoed in the air, with the female, Turtle masked, ANBU being too late.

"Damn it." she said crossing her arms.

**A/N: Thank and for reading this chapter and I, again, thank you for reading and reviewing the previous chapter.**

**No if you remember my poll, my next update will be the long awaited Blue Eyed Uchiha. After that I'll start on Swift Ninja, Crossing Dimensions, and then Killer Instinct. Unless you want the order to be different. If you do tell me in a review, which story you want first and so on and so forth.**

**Until Then,**

**PEACE!**


	5. One Long Day

**Okay I lied, I'll update chapters after I edit one chapter from Blue Eyed Uchiha. Because even with one, I keep finding myself distracted and mentally exhausted when I'm working on them. Like really, do you know how many mistakes were in the first six chapters… a lot.**

**But everything will be worth it in the end, that I'm sure of.**

**Okay, let's get this started… even though I really don't have that many readers for this story.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… or any of the elements from Bleach and whatever else I happen to use in this chapter._

**Lost & Found Chapter Five: One Long Day**

**[Early Morning - Next Day]**

Naruto sat on the log in the center of training ground seven. A brown king cobra was hissing angrily from the other log next to him. "I know, it's my fault the scroll isn't in your possession right now. I take full responsibility for Mizuki's incompetence." Naruto said as the cobra hissed some more.

The blonde nodded his head and inwardly groaned in annoyance. "I agree, I'll wait a week befo-" the blonde was cut off as the cobra sharply hissed. Naruto's fist clenched against the wood, before he nodded his head. "Understood, you'll have it by the end of the day." he said as a thin trail of smoke left his eyes and blended into the air. "Wait!" he quickly exclaimed stopping the cobra from dispelling itself, and losing the link it held with Orochimaru.

Seeing that he was successful in keeping the linked snake in front of him, the blonde quickly pushed himself off the log. "Did you make any progress with the request I made? I know it's only a matter of time before the Hyuga find out about my… _gift_." Naruto said, his senses telling him that one was a good five hundred yards away… watching him and slowly getting closer.

The blonde made sure his back was to the intruder. Even though they could easily see him, they couldn't see his moving lips. The Hyuga clan was very adept at reading lips and he didn't want them to know what he was saying.

The cobra was quiet for a minute or two, no doubt Orochimaru thinking back to his research. Another minute went by before hissing reached the blonde's ears.

Naruto's smile grew bigger and bigger with more that was said. "Of course, that could work. You're right, it hasn't failed me yet. I'll begin the process as soon as I could." Naruto said bowing to the king cobra as he dispelled. 'Did you hear that Yoko? It is possible to merge both sets of eyes.' Naruto thought happily.

"**Sorry, Naruto-kun, but I don't understand or speak snake. It's impossible for foxes or any other species, excluding a few special humans. Just tell me about it later, I still need my beauty sleep."** Yoko said with a yawn to prove her point.

Naruto audibly groaned and crossed his arms. "What a load of bologna. You're already beautiful, you don't need sleep." he complained out loud as his senses went off.

He spun quickly, simultaneously unsealing **Ebony**. As he made his one-eighty degree turn, he skillfully batted away all three of the shuriken thrown at him. He glared daggers at the white eyed Hyuga glaring back at him. He was immediately surprised to find it was Hinata. "What the hell are you doing here? Don't you know it's nearly seven in the morning?" Naruto asked holding his black blade in a reverse grip.

"You know why I'm here. It's illegal for the Byakugan to be in the sockets of an outsider. I'm here for the sole purpose of ripping out those eyes and having them destroyed immediately." the blue haired girl said with anger and conviction in her tone.

The blonde's mouth dropped in surprise, not by her words, but by how she said them. He didn't know Hinata could speak the way she did. He remembered a few weeks before he was taken, albeit barely, but he knew she was incredibly soft spoken then. She was barely able to even wave at him when he saw her in the playground.

It was the first and last time he seen her, before his return two years ago. Truly time changes everybody. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. Last time I checked, my eyes were blue." he said, even going so far as to point at them with his finger. "Now, I know your eyes are white, but you really cant be blind." he said before she clenched her teeth in anger and ran towards him.

His lips twitched in annoyance and he quickly shifted to the left, watching as the log gained a large dent because of her angered strike. "Wow, the Juken is really strong. The stories about the Hyuga clan are definitely true." he goaded as he continued to dodge every strike she sent his way.

Blocking was out of the question, since she could still cause damage from the inside. "Could you quit it Hinata-san, before things get serious." Naruto said not wanting to hurt the young Hyuga… after all she was the heiress and her injury could easily create a fiasco he didn't want to cause. But it was more because she looked incredibly cute when she was angry.

Her Byakugan flared to life in anger, her veins pulsing in her immense anger. "NO, YOU MUST PAY FOR YOUR TRANSGRESSIONS! ONLY THEN WILL I HAVE PEACE!" she angrily yelled before Naruto moved and grabbed each of her wrists.

He stepped into her guard and quickly kicked her feet from under her. She landed on her back with Naruto straddling her. "Sorry Hinata-san, but you're wrong. I don't have to pay for anything, because I haven't committed any crime against your clan." 'Now, Kabuto, he's the guy you want.' Naruto thought in amusement.

"You're a lying fox and you know it!" she yelled causing Naruto's eyes to widen a bit. "That's right, I know about your little secret, and if you don't want me to tell Ino, then I suggest you tell me the truth." the Hyuga heiress said as the blonde closed his eyes.

Naruto nodded his head as he opened his eyes and looked Hinata right in hers. "You're right Hinata, I have committed a crime. I have stolen from you and your clan and I'm sorry." Naruto said as he stood to his feet.

The bluenette quickly stood to her feet and glared at the blonde. "Told you, now return what was stolen and I'll see if I can get you a pardon from my father." she said while dropping into a defensive stance, just in case the blonde went back on his word.

"Understood." Naruto droned as he dug into his pouch, and rummaged around it for a few seconds. A few more seconds went by, before he pulled out a pair of blue, cotton, panties. "I stole these from you, I'm sorry… forgive me?" Naruto said with a smirk.

Hinata cocked her head as she stared at her undergarments. She narrowed her eyes, before quickly widened them in surprised. "How'd you?" she stuttered as a blush appeared on her face.

"Am I forgiven?" Naruto asked while he twirled the panties on a single finger.

Her blushed deepened and her eyes hardened again. She quickly thrust her palm forward and a wall of wind quickly launched him backwards.

He skidded along the ground as he held his chest. "You perverted liar! I know you have the Byakugan and I'm going to check everywhere on your body for them. I know all about the seals on your body." she said with her Byakugan eyes flaring in anger.

"But not today." Naruto said before spitting out a glob of blood as Yoko quickly healed up his right lung. "My teammates are nearing and you and I both know, this doesn't involve them. Plus I would love to see you again." Naruto said as he watched the girl back into the surrounding trees.

"As of right now, you and I have unfinished business." she said before turning and running, her panties clutched in her hands.

The blonde coughed again and stood to his feet. "Whew, that was fun." he muttered as he stepped into his small pile of blood and smothered it into the ground.

"**You should really thank me for not going to sleep on you. I was nearly there."** Yoko barked at him in anger.** "I cant believe you couldn't dodge that. Even I knew what was coming."** she added as Sasuke and Sakura dragged themselves into the clearing, clearly still half-sleep.

"You guys look dead." he muttered as they sleepily made their way to a tree before leaning and sliding down it.

"Screw you blondie." Sasuke murmured as he drifted back to sleep. The pink haired girl didn't have a thing to say as she was sleep as soon as she leaned against the tree.

"Wow, you guys are not early birds." Naruto scoffed as he went back to the three logs in the middle of the field.

He stared at the middle log, it being the one struck by Hinata minutes ago. He brushed his fingers over the dent and nodded his head a little. 'I'll see you again Hinata Hyuga.' he thought as he turned and sat against the log. 'Now, I wonder how long we have to wait for Kakashi?" he asked himself as he leaned his head against the log and closed his eyes. Seconds later, two orbs of smoke seeped through his lids, causing him to sigh contently with a smile on his face.

**[Hokage Tower]**

Sarutobi trudged his way into his office, a cup of coffee in his hands. Normally he would have called for it to be delivered into his office, but he hadn't poured himself a cup of coffee in three decades.

Plus, he needed to stretch his legs. He's been catching up on paperwork the entire night, and he needed to move around. This whole thing with Mizuki, was really giving him a run for his money. He racked his brain for possible solutions, but none of his shinobi had the abilities to create black smoke that could thin out into colorless air. Also with how it was used, had to make that person very talented.

He took a long sip of coffee and placed it on his table. He sat down and leaned into his chair. 'He's been dead too long, so Inoichi wasn't able to get anything as to why he did what he did. Only the event was found.' the Hokage thought as he picked up a piece of paper.

He narrowed his eyes as he read the paper. It was an official request from the Hyuga clan to launch a full investigation against Naruto. "How could Naruto have the Byakugan, his eyes are clearly blue." he thought out loud as he grabbed his large **Denied** stamp.

He only picked it up, and just continued to stare at the paper. From the sounds of it, they had legitimate reasons. Naruto has been sensed with a strong Genjutsu laced around his eyes. ANBU had also noticed him hopping from roof to roof, during the past year with a white band covering his eyes. Also every other week he's been seen sitting on his father's nose on the Hokage Mountain.

If the blonde had the Byakugan, his actions would be just enough proof to launch an investigation against him. He set the stamp down on his desk and leaned back against his chair. 'Damn it Naruto, I thought you were turning over a new leaf. I'll talk to him first, before I allow the Hyuga into his home.' the Hokage thought before putting the document into his desk before he looked over other documents.

After an hour went by, his lips twitched into a small smile. "About time you returned. I was sure you would have been here years ago." Sarutobi said as loud groan was heard.

"Sorry for my absence, but I've been dealing with a certain someone." Jiraiya said entering the office from the window. "I got here as soon as I realized what he was doing." he added as he sat on the windowsill, his body inside the office.

"I would have sent another message telling you to forget about Orochimaru, but you went under our radar as well. I knew what Orochimaru would do, I taught him everything he knows." the Sandaime said keeping his eyes on his paperwork.

"Not everything." Jiraiya muttered before Hiruzen snapped his eyes straight at him. "Not the way I meant it." he immediately said raising his hands.

Hiruzen's gaze lightened as he put his pen down. "So tell me, how did my lost student keep you busy these past two and a half years?"

The white haired male jumped slightly before he began scratching his cheek in embarrassment. "That's not important." he said between weak chuckles. "What about Naruto-kun, where's he at? I would love to see him." he asked with a smile.

Hiruzen slowly nodded his head. "I see you didn't get that message. You really should inscribe a toad summoning into this desk for future problems, how else am I supposed to keep you informed on this front?" he expressed his discomfort as he leaned back into his chair for the third time since he returned to his office.

"What do you mean? What happened to him?" the concerned godfather asked, pushing off the wall in his worry.

**[Training Ground Seven]**

Naruto cracked his eyes open and immediately grabbed someone's waist. "Sakura what are you doing?" he asked noticing her body straddling his own. He pushed her off and promptly stood to his feet.

"Well, I uhh." she stuttered with a blush on her cheeks. She sighed and blushed even deeper.

"Keep your attraction directed at Sasuke. I have no interest in someone so pitifully weak as you." Naruto coldly said as he hopped onto the log he was previously leaning against.

Tears of anger welled up in the Haruno's eyes. But, before she could lash out, Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke. "Now now, Naruto-kun, that isn't the way to treat a comrade." the masked Jonin said while wagging a finger at the blonde.

Said blonde scoffed a glare in the Jonin's direction. "I'll stop as soon as she proves herself in my eyes. Not a single second before." Naruto said from his wooden pedestal.

Sasuke walked up to the group with an uninterested expression. "Could we just get to this _real_ Genin test."

"For once, I agree with the drama queen." Naruto said ignoring the boy's glare.

Kakashi watched the interactions and inwardly sighed. 'It looks like I'm failing another team. The council isn't going to like this.' Kakashi thought closing his only visible eye for a while.

"Kakashi, the test." Naruto barked in annoyance.

"Of course." Kakashi said opening his eye. "The test is a simple one. I have two of these bells, the test is for you to take a bell from me." Kakashi explained.

Naruto sighed and retreated inside his mind. He knew from Orochimaru, where Kakashi got the idea from. His father got it from his sensei, Jiraiya. Jiraiya got it from the Sandaime. **"This is like a fifth generation test. Seriously these people need some new ideas."** Yoko complained in annoyance.

'I know what you mean.' Naruto thought watching as Kakashi put a clock on a log. 'If teamwork is the only thing needed to complete this test, then I know what to do. It's a little too early, but it might be better.' Naruto thought as Kakashi started the test.

The blonde and the Jonin were left in the middle of the field. "I wasn't paying attention to everything, but I think I heard you say come at you with the intent to kill." Naruto said gazing right into Kakashi's single eye. "Did you say that Kakashi?"

The silver haired Jonin eye smiled and nodded his head. "Yes I did. Don't worry about my safety Naruto-kun, I can take care of myself." he said giving the blonde a thumbs up.

The snake user smirked as his pupils seemed to slit vertically. A reddish tint appeared in his eyes as he began chuckle heavily. "I'll remember those words Kakashi." the blonde said as he sunk into the ground.

"Okay, I'll be waiting. Remember you have until noon to get a bell and stay on the team." Kakashi exclaimed knowing the blonde went somewhere in the surrounding forest. "Four hours to do a test. Should I have shortened the time, or should I have waited longer?" Kakashi mused to himself as he pulled out an orange book and began casually reading it.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

An hour passed by with no activity, making Kakashi close his book in confusion. He was sure he sensed Sasuke about to attack him about twenty minutes ago, but nothing happened.

He definitely heard Sakura's yells for a few seconds before they were quieted. What was even stranger, he couldn't sense either of their chakras.

"Okay… weird, but not my problem. If they want to waste their time, then I'm not going to stop them." Kakashi muttered as he reopened his book.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

In the forest, Naruto stood in front of his teammates. Sasuke was glaring at him with his obsidian eyes. The blonde slapped him with a seal sometime ago, that completely sealed his chakra.

Sakura was near and quickly tried to scream, before she was hit with two seals. One for her own chakra, and another for her mouth. Both of them had the blonde's bandages wrapped around them. Tight enough to keep them from moving, but loose enough so that their bones didn't crack with the pressure.

"Are you two still mad at me?" the blonde asked with crossed arms, and a tapping foot.

"What do you think blondie?" Sasuke fired back, being the only one capable of speech. "You're lucky I cant use my Sharingan."

The blonde's lip twitched in a smirk. "That's right. How are you coming along with that bloodline I gifted you last year. Do you have all three tomoes yet?" the blonde asked already knowing the answer.

The Uchiha's glare increased, if that was possible. "_Gifted?_ You didn't give this bloodline to me as a gift. I was born with it! I unlocked it because I'm an Elite of the Uchiha!" the raven haired Uchiha sneered at the smirking blonde.

The Uzumaki smirk turned into a smile. "Oh, of course. But, do you realize that me showing you your own death served as the catalyst to unlock those eyes of yours. So really, in truth, I really did give them to you as a gift. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to consider yourself an Elite." the blonde said watching as Sasuke's eyes widened a little before narrowing again.

The blonde turned his gaze to Sakura and narrowed his eyes. "I don't believe you would really prove useful in the plan I have concocted in my brain. But, even you must know the true purpose of this test." Naruto said as her angry emerald eyes widened in realization.

The blonde walked up to her and held up his hand. "If you promise not to yell and reveal our position, I'll remove the seal on your mouth. Nod, if you promise." the blonde sternly spoke as she quickly nodded. "Tell Sasuke what the true nature of this test is." he ordered as she nodded and turned to look at a glaring Sasuke.

"It's teamwork. The test isn't a process of elimination to determine which of us get to become Genin. It's to see if we can work together to achieve an assignment. I thought it was a little fishy earlier, but now in this situation, I've had time to properly think." Sakura informed softly glaring at Naruto. "Thanks to Naruto-kun." she swooned causing the blonde to shake his head.

"Indeed Sasuke, you see, I'm not such a bad guy. I'm actually the guy you should really listen to. I don't want to hamper the growth of your skills, but increase them. After all, you need a lot of power if you want to kill your brother." Naruto said as the Uchiha's glare increased exponentially at the mention of his brother.

"What do you know about him? Where is he!?" he yelled out his questions making the blonde sigh.

"I know all I need to know about Itachi Uchiha… which is a lot. As to his current location… no idea. I'm not sure you even heard my other words." Naruto said crossing his arms.

"Sasuke-kun, just agree with him. You don't have to like it, but you cant deny the truth in his words. You're at your level of strength because of Naruto. You may not see it, but it's obvious you think of Naruto as your rival. So stop being so thick headed and listen to him." Sakura nearly yelled in annoyance.

Both of the boys widened their eyes at her words. "Wow, pinky, you just might prove me wrong. Keep up the change." Naruto said as hearts appeared in her eyes at his praise. "So how about it Sasuke-san?" the blonde asked with a smirk.

The Uchiha stayed silent for two whole minutes before releasing a sigh of defeat. "I guess." he muttered. "I hope you realize I let you get the drop on me earlier." he said with a smirk.

Naruto grinned brightly as he chuckled. "Of course you did Sasuke-san." Naruto said as he walked between them and yanked his bandages free of them both. They quickly spun in circles, as the bandages turned to smoke and rewrapped around the blonde's entire arms.

When they solidified, the spinning duo came to a stumbling stop. "Excellent progress you two. Now let's get this plan in your brains as well." the blonde said with a grin as he crouched, with a stick in hand.

**[Twenty Minutes Before Noon]**

Kakashi yawned in boredom. He had been standing in the same spot for the past few hours, with little activity happening at all. He had debated on searching the forest for them, but his book was too interesting.

But, now that he's finished, nothing was really stopping him. "I could reread the book." he muttered with a giggle, before he sensed a pair of fluxes in chakra. Immediately he knew they were his team, getting their chakras back. 'Scratch that.' the Jonin thought as he prepared himself.

At the next second, kunai and shuriken rocketed out of the surrounding foliage, from three different sides. He took out his own kunai and continued to simply bat away the approaching projectiles.

He jumped in surprise when they all transformed into his blonde student. They grinned at his airborne figure as a fireball came speeding at him from below. He widened his eye and created his own clone and used it as a foothold to get out of the way. "Pretty good." he said as his feet touched the ground.

He continued to dodge all of the thrown kunai with ease. Some were thrown short, and others were overthrown. He didn't know if it was purposely or on accident, since they continued to transform into clones of his blonde student.

Sasuke joined the fray as the hundreds of blondes around him distracted him with hand to hand. As he continued to dispel the surprisingly weak shadow clones, a dozen small fireballs hurtled his way.

They burned through the clones with ease and continued heading his way. He widened his eyes, these fireballs were way too large to have come from Sasuke.

He quickly raised his headband, revealing his Sharingan, and that made things easier to understand. With the help of his Sharingan, he saw that the Sasuke, was actually a transformed Naruto.

Though, at that moment, all of the clones exploded in a cloud of smoke, hampering his vision. His senses went off and he bent his hips, narrowly avoiding the swiping hand of one of his students. "Nice work with the cloud of smoke Naruto-kun." Kakashi said as Sasuke quickly appeared in front of him, a pair of kunai in his hands. The Jonin quickly weaved through the Uchiha's attacks, knowing he was mostly trying to cut the string attached to the bells.

His Sharingan was activated, but his own Sharingan was far greater than the Uchiha's. He quickly kicked the Uchiha aside, knowing he was preparing to throw a kunai at the bell. If he had, they would have surely been removed from his hips. He clapped his hands, sending a pulse of chakra outward and clearing out the smoke from around him.

Ringing was heard around the entire field, causing the Jonin to smile wide. "Looks like you three were to late to get your bells. Better luck next year." he said as he walked towards the logs to collect his clock.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Naruto said from his sitting position on the middle log. Sakura was sitting on the left log. Sasuke was leaning against the right, the silent clock in his hand, before it was dropped to the floor. The blonde had both of the bells, dangling from his left hand.

"How'd you get the bells, they're clearly still on my hip." he said looking down to see another pair of bells. His implanted Sharingan picked up chakra in the bells. He was surprised when they transformed into a pair of blondes, before dispelling altogether.

"One of those kunai was thrown by you. Those two clones flawlessly substituted themselves for my bells." Kakashi stated as he dropped his headband back over his eye.

"Correct. I knew that if I was to throw all of the kunai, you would check your hip every time a kunai passed by. So I had Sakura throw them. You knew this and thus didn't bother checking, knowing how poor she was at throwing. My clones appeared and kicked up a lot of fuss, further distracting you from the possibility of losing your bells. Sasuke made a beautiful entrance inside the smoke. His job was to continue going after the bells, already knowing they were fake. You fell for the ruse without a second thought." Naruto said with a grin.

"So sensei, how'd we do?" Sakura asked with a hopeful tone.

"That plan took a lot of timing and cooperation from all of you. The execution was also very surprising, considering I believed you three would never see each other eye-to-eye… to-eye." Kakashi said giving the three an eye smile.

"The meaning of this exercise was for us to work together. Since we completed the objective, that means we passed our Genin Exam." Sasuke spoke up with an aloof tone and a cross of his arms.

"You're right Sasuke. You three can have your lunch." Kakashi said pointing a thumb at the three bentos placed on stone.

"Thank you, I'm starving." Sakura uncharacteristically exclaimed, pushing herself off the wooden pillar. Sasuke, albeit with the same appreciation, chose to simply walk silently towards his food.

The blonde kept his eye on the scarecrow and grinned. "I might not have came at you with the intent to kill this morning, but from now on, I'll keep you on your toes." Naruto grinned before he pushed off and joined his teammates in eating lunch.

"As long as you don't do anything treasonous, I wont have to kill you." Kakashi eye smiled with a hushed tone, only Naruto could here. "Okay, you three, you have the rest of the day off. Meet back here tomorrow morning for training, as team seven." Kakashi said before body flickering in a leaf whirlwind.

The blonde stood with a bento in his hand. As he slowly ate it, his senses picked up a slight disturbance in the air. He couldn't put a finger on the location, but the feeling of anger and shame was obvious to him. 'I might as well get this over with.' the blonde thought with an inward sigh.

"I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully we'll continue to function as a perfect team." Naruto said while walking away still chewing his food.

Five minutes passed by before the blonde saw a large white haired man. At first sight, he knew exactly who the man was. He stood frozen in his spot, the chopsticks falling from his numb fingers. **"Holy fuck."** Yoko muttered, seeing the Sennin standing in the middle of the trees.

"Hello Naruto-kun… judging by your posture and expression, you know full well who I am." Jiraiya of the Sannin spoke with conflicted emotions in his eyes. He was angry at the young blonde for willingly accepting Orochimaru's apprenticeship, but he was also filled with shame because he wasn't exactly there to protect the blonde.

Naruto slowly nodded his head. Out of the other two Sannin, Jiraiya was the one he never wanted to encounter. The best thing for him to do was to avoid creating anymore hostility from the toad sage. "I do. You're Jiraiya of the Sannin, teammate to Tsunade and Orochimaru, and student to Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage. Leader of Konoha's spy organization. Surely a pleasure to meet a legend such as yourself." Naruto said bowing respectfully to the man.

Jiraiya closed his eyes and hung his head. "I guess it's true then. You became an apprentice to Orochimaru, this village's most infamous criminal." he said softly, no longer able to keep himself in denial.

The blonde inaudibly gulped. He really had to tread softly. There was two ways to go about this meeting. He could either prey on the man's shame, or his anger. 'This is your territory Yoko. Work your magic.' Naruto thought as the woman quickly coached the blonde on what to say. "Of course it is. After all, I didn't have a father here to protect me from harm." Naruto spoke with spite clear in his voice.

The spectral stab into his heart caused the Sennin to cringe at bit. "You were my godfather weren't you? With the immediate death of my parents, it became your job, no, obligation to take care of me. I know you had an important job in collecting information for Konoha's benefit, but why didn't you take me along with you?" Naruto asked.

The shame rolling off the Sennin was overwhelming the anger with each word that was spoken. "I couldn't bring a baby with me into enemy territory and environments babies shouldn't really be exposed to." he said opening his eyes to look at the young blonde.

The Genin's eyes were piercing into Jiraiya's soul. "Don't give me that. You are one of the Sannin of Konoha, a kage level shinobi with a reputation higher than that of my father. Are you telling me, in all of your wisdom, you didn't know how to do a simple shadow clone?" Naruto asked, his own anger surfacing suddenly.

"**Naruto, you baka, control your anger!"** Yoko exclaimed loudly with fear and worry for Naruto's safety.

"I'm ashamed to tell you, I wasn't really thinking back then. But I did leave you in the capable arms of my sensei." Jiraiya said, his anger leaving his heart even more.

"A lot of help that did. The idiot went and told the people of my condition, minutes after the conclusion of the attack. I'm surprised I wasn't killed right then and there by the angry populous." Naruto seethed, not hearing Yoko's words of warning.

"But he created a law, forbidding everybody to call you a demon, tell the younger generation of your condition, and harming you in anyway. That law was made to protect you!" Jiraiya yelled, anger raising in his voice.

"HA! That law did the exact opposite! All it did was make my life a living pain in the shadows of this very village. Everyday I was tormented in every way I could think of. I was beaten, scorned, neglected, denied food and I was even kicked out of the orphanage. And that was only in the first five years. But do you know what happened next? I was liberated! HAHAHA! Brought in to the sadist arms of Orochimaru! He took care of me, taught me basic knowledge, _trained _me. My father chose the wrong man to be my godfather." Naruto said with power surrounding his being.

The power was sadistic in nature and it made him feel a bit less ecstatic whenever he uses Yoko's chakra. He knew, from experience, just how he looked at the moment. Dark rip-like patterns were spread across his entire body, the only visible spots was his face and his hands.

It happened faster than he could react. Next thing the blonde knew, he was launched into a tree, before Jiraiya jammed his forearm into his throat. He coughed up a bit of blood as he looked into Jiraiya's angry eyes. "Don't ever insinuate that Orochimaru is a better godfather than me! Everything good that's ever happened to you in that village was because of me and my agents. The clothes you were given, the money, the food! I even struck up a deal with sensei for me to give you some of my OWN money every month, days after you were kicked from the orphanage. But you didn't get to receive ANY of it, because my traitorous teammate ripped you from my grasps. Do you realize how miserable that made me!? I searched high and low for you, but you were even harder to find then my teammate. IT TOOK ME, RETURNING HERE, TO FIND OUT WHY!" Jiraiya yelled pressing his arm harder into the blonde's throat nearly crushing it.

All the blonde could do was stare into the toad sage's eyes, tears flowing freely from their glands. Very quickly, the rip-like pattern of his Cursed Mark of Earth receded behind the resealed wall of the Fuja Hoin. (Evil Sealing Method)

As he thought about Jiraiya's words, he continuously apologized to Yoko for ignoring her warning. Things got heated unexpectedly, real fast. He searched his mind, finding those memories quickly and reliving them. They were the best memories he had before going to Orochimaru's, but there were very few of them in number. 'Still not enough effort.' the blonde thought as his body exploded in smoke, before immediately blending with the air.

It happened in such a fashion that Jiraiya believed it was a shadow clone he was talking to the entire time. Well if it was a clone then, its memory was going to be transmitted directly to the original at this very moment. "We share the same sorrow Naruto-kun. Deep inside you, I know it's there. Like you, I hope that team of yours pulls you out of the darkness. Please Kami, have them do, what I couldn't." Jiraiya pleaded to Kami.

**[Edge of the Training Ground]**

The blonde appeared on the opposite edge of the training ground, away from the village. He appeared on his knees, his hands around his throat as he painfully coughed. If it wasn't for Yoko's continuous flow of chakra, his throat would've surely been crushed and he would be dead. **"What the fuck did I tell you!? I told you not to calm yourself. I told you so many times, but you were to busy riling the anger in that man's heart. You don't do that to someone stronger than you, you stupid IDIOT!"** Yoko yelled at her container, adding insult to his injury.

'Sorry Yoko-chan. I really am, I really don't know what came over me . One minute, I'm cool and collected, the next I'm filled with anger from my past.' the blonde apologized in his mind.

"**What have I told you about using that seal? Do you know what Orochimaru would do if he learned what I did to it!? Again, you refused to listen to me. I swear if you jeopardize your goal one more time, you could kiss it goodbye forever."** Yoko chided more as the blonde stood to his feet.

'I'm not going to act anymore stupid from now on. Next time me and Jiraiya meet, things will be different. Who knows, maybe I could even get him to train me as well.' Naruto thought while Yoko scoffed.

"**In your dreams. He's never going to do that. Not when he knows who trained you beforehand."** she said as her chakra receded back inside the seal in her skull accessory, it's eyes glowing red for a moment before returning to normal.

'That could easily work in my favor. We all know how sadistic Orochimaru is, I could easily just feed him the lie that I hate what Orochimaru did to me _during_ the training.' that offered.

"**I guess that could work. Especially since, it's not entirely a lie. That man is a sick bastard."** Yoko said with a soft shudder. **"You'll have to give it some time though. Things like that require time, especially after what just **_**transpired**_**."** she said, both of them being reminded of Naruto's rashness.

'I said sorry. I'll make it up to you tonight. I'll do whatever you want me to do.' the blonde promised as the Kitsune inside him squealed in delight, having something already in mind. '_But_…' Naruto thought cutting the woman off. 'We have things to do.'

**[Three O'clock In The Afternoon]**

The blonde crouched on a fire escape inside a darkened alley. He wasn't aware if it was possible to do the procedure without sight, but he knew he wanted to see the process himself. He was wearing a dark cloak, with a hood, and a mask, completely covering his body in black.

Because it was still daytime, he had to be extra stealthy not to cause any noise. This abduction had to go off without a hitch. 'Any pair of useless eyes would do.' the blonde thought as he pulled out a syringe filled with yellow liquid.

It was Amelia's paralytic toxin, and it was a small dose. He widened his senses and quickly put the syringe away. There were at least three Jonin, four Chunin, and maybe two ANBU around his immediate location, at least a dozen yards in all directions. With the ANBU being the closest, directly above him on the roof.

He knew if he moved even an inch, he would be spotted. He lowered his chakra levels even further, to undetectable levels.

Naruto's brow twitched when he saw a homeless man walking through the alley, alone and drunkenly slurring. He and the ANBU watched the man clumsily walk through the alley, none the wiser of the predator and savior watching him carefully.

Both of them watched the man for three minutes, before the blonde heard the ANBU grunt in approval and jump away. Naruto chose that moment to act, and quickly. His tactics were changed due to two Jonin talking at the mouth of the alleyway.

His body turned into smoke and he wafted down around the drunken man. The mass of swirling black smoke shrunk around the man, before disappearing entirely… into the earth below.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

A good five minutes went by before the blonde appeared in the underground network the ROOT agents used. His hand was clasped over the mouth of the man, who was screaming into it. Naruto punched the man in his stomach and watched his eyes glaze over and he slipped into unconsciousness.

He ripped his hand away from the man's mouth and removed his mask. He looked around to see at least two dozen ROOT agents around him. He was right in the middle of their training area.

Most of them didn't pay him any mind, as they were too busy training to care. Though two members looked at him blankly. He stared at the black haired boy and grinned. "Sorry for the intrusion, I'll get out of your way." Naruto said as he hefted the man over his shoulder. "Oof, he's a heavy one." Naruto muttered before shakily walking towards an unoccupied room.

After three minutes of strained walking, the sound of a cane hitting the ground made itself obviously known. "To what do I owe the pleasure this time Naruto-kun?" Danzo said from behind the blonde.

Naruto shook the man's body off of him and he turned and bowed to the bandaged elder. "Apologies for my unannounced entry into your domain." Naruto respectfully apologized to the elder.

Danzo waved the apology off with a shake of his head. "No need for that, I've gotten used to your intrusions. Although, I would like to know what you are doing with that man right there?" he asked pointing at him with his cane.

Naruto glanced at the unconscious man with cold eyes. "I need him alive for the time being. Because of circumstances, beyond my control, I had to bring him here. May I have a free room to operate?" the blonde asked politely.

"Sure… only if I can watch." Danzo said with a narrowed eye.

Naruto prevented himself from showing any signs of discomfort at the proposition. Yoko was growling angrily inside the blonde's mind. **"He's so fucking nosey!"** she seethed through clenched teeth.

'Easy there Yoko. Although I'm with you. I just want to kill him right now.' Naruto though before opening his mouth. "It's going to take a while, are you sure? I don't want to waste your time." he said hoping the man would back off.

"Hmm…" Danzo grunted in thought. "Maybe you're right. Luckily I don't have anything happening at the moment. Plus this would give me more insight into your knowledge." the elder said causing Naruto to mentally scream.

"**Are you sure you need another pair of eyes to do this. Why not just have a clone operate on you in the comfort of your own home?" **Yoko suggested causing the blonde to stop in thought.

With what he was going to do, the result would be the same whether or not he or a clone did it. 'That could work as well. Oh my God, Yoko, I love you!' Naruto yelled in his mind as he took out a kunai.

"Change of plans Danzo." the blonde said throwing the kunai through the back of the man's head. "Thanks for the help anyway." he said placed the mask back on his face and waved at the elder. "Ja ne." he said as he and the man's body disappeared in a swirling mass of black smoke.

Danzo narrowed his eye at the spot Naruto previously occupied. He tapped his cane loudly and three agents appeared in front of him. "Watch him." he simply said before they disappeared.

**[Ten Minutes Later]**

The blonde spent ten minutes trying to get to his apartment. Trying was the keyword, since he immediately sensed a tail on him. He had discarded the cloak and mask, and swallowed the smoke. He still had need of them after all.

He dropped down into the busy market street and began walking on foot. It would be difficult for the ROOT members to follow him throughout the mass of bodies surrounding him.

He slipped inside a restaurant and exhaled a sigh. "Hey Naruto-kun!" a yell was heard from across the room.

The blonde turned around to see Ino and her team having a meal together. He blinked and looked around. 'Damn, a bar-bee-que shop.' the blonde cursed in his mind as he walked over to them. "Hey, Ino-chan, isn't this a surprise?" he said with a uneasy chuckle.

"Here, sit by me. Move over!" she exclaimed in a hushed tone, as she pushed her sensei further towards the wall. He complained a bit, but otherwise allowed himself to be moved.

The male blonde nervously chuckled at that as he sat down. "Sorry Asuma-sensei. I wont be long." he told the Jonin.

"That's alright Naruto-kun. I already got used to her brash behavior." the bearded Jonin said.

"As did we all." Shikamaru commented with a lazy tone.

"So how was your test today? Did you pass?" Ino asked while hugging Naruto's arm.

The test was a bit challenging considering who my teammates were, but we managed to pull the rabbit out the hat." Naruto as he leaned into her.

"I heard about that in he meeting earlier. Everyone was surprised to hear Kakashi passed a team. Out of all the previous students assigned to become Kakashi's team, absolutely none of them passed." Asuma revealed causing Ino to gasp in surprise. "That man is very picky about who he trains."

"Yeah, I picked up on that." Naruto said scratching his cheek before he reached for a raw piece of meat. His hand was quickly slapped by Ino, causing Naruto to retract his damaged hand back.

"That's not for you mister. We're going to need our strength for more missions today." she explained, while fake tears build up in the male blonde's eyes.

"Ino why'd you have to go and do that? Maybe Naruto's really hungry." Choji softly told Ino before subsequently reaching for the meat Naruto was going for and cooking it, before eating it.

Naruto sniffed as Ino flicked his nose. "You're not fooling anyone here Naruto-kun. I'll take you out to dinner tonight okay?"

The whiskered blonde grinned with a nod of his head. "Can we have barbequed eel?" he asked as Ino giggled softly.

"**Don't go making plans, when you already have plans!"** Yoko yelled at him.

"Of course." she said kissing his cheek. "No go, do whatever you were doing before coming in here." she said patting his butt as he got up.

'Chill Yoko-chan, I need an alibi for tonight.' he thought to the semi-jealous kitsune. "Alright Ino-chan, see you later." he said before exiting the restaurant.

"There's something off about Naruto-san." Shikamaru mumbled aloud.

The platinum blonde immediately turned defensive and glared at Shikamaru. "There's something off about your face!" she yelled.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

Again Naruto was outside, on the run. Things didn't seem to change at all. He was still being tailed, causing him to growl in annoyance. 'Well damn, Danzo would understand why I have to kill these guys.'

"**Naruto-kun, the goal!"** Yoko reminded him with a mighty yell.

He sighed and landed in an unoccupied alley and called out to his followers. A full minute went by before the three from before landed in front of him. "Why is Danzo having me followed?" he asked with a twitch of his eye.

"That's classified." one of the agents spoke behind their mask.

"Does he not realize, that I found another way to do what I need to do?" Naruto asked with another twitch of his eye.

"He does." another agent simply said.

The blonde's fists were clenched in annoyance at the lack of emotion in their voices. "Do you three realize that you need to be eliminated now? I wont kill you, just hurt really bad. How you get back to Danzo, is up to you." Naruto said before one of the agents scoffed.

"You can try. It's three on one." the last agent said.

Naruto smirked. 'Rookie.' he thought before vanishing. Two kunai were in his hands as he appeared behind the trio. He stabbed both of the kunai into the shoulders of one of them, while the others turned, drawing their tantos.

The blonde kicked the tanto out of the rookie's hand and used the other leg to roundhouse him in the jaw. He ripped the kunai out of the injured agent's shoulders and blocked the strike.

He parried and slashed through his mask, before his other hand smashed through it. He glanced to his side, and his torso turned into smoke as a leg swept through it. Smoke quickly wrapped around the rookie's leg, forming the bandages, before he was flung into the wall.

As Naruto's body reformed immediately, he turned his head to the first agent and grabbed his fist. He quickly pulled and kneed him in the stomach. After that, he quickly spun and kicked his feet from under him, sending him falling onto his bleeding back.

The blonde turned his attention back to the second agent and quickly moved his head out of way of the speeding tanto. Three more strikes he dodged before he smashed his fist against the cracked mask, this time causing it to shatter.

He looked back to the rookie, before Naruto thrust his arm out. Immediately, the black python shot out of his arm and quickly wrapped around the rookie. "Don't crush him Viktor." the blonde hissed at the python.

"**Why not Naruto-sssaammaa?"** the black python hissed back to the blonde.

"Just don't. I know you haven't been able to enjoy yourself in a long time, but just chill for now." the blonde said as Viktor hissed angrily.

Naruto sent Amelia to paralyze everyone, before she returned to his sleeve. "That'll keep you three here for a few hours. I'll have a clone hide each of you from any patrolling ANBU. When you return to Danzo, tell him not to send anymore of you to follow me anymore." he said creating three clones, while Viktor returned to his right sleeve.

He jumped onto the roof and released a sigh. "This has already been a long day, and it's not even close to being finished." he muttered in exhaustion. He let out another sigh, before resuming his trip home.

Fifteen minutes went by before he entered his apartment. Kaede was outside of her apartment having a drink. Her face immediately brightened upon seeing the blonde. "Hey Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed in joy.

The blonde immediately noticed the Jonin vest around her person. "I see somebody finally did as they were told." the blonde jokingly said as she let out a sarcastic laugh, while she squeezed him to her chest.

"I've been a Jonin for a month, where have you been?" she asked both figuratively and literally, before spotting his headband. "Oh wow you finally became a ninja! I'm so proud of you." she happily yelled while squeezing him tighter into her bosom.

"And you finally became a Jonin. I'm proud of you!" Naruto joined her in praise as he returned the hug with equal vigor.

The two released their embraces and smiled at each other. "You sure have grown since the first time we met. I remember when you were a quiet, perverted, recluse living next door." she said as Naruto softly chuckled. "Now, you're an open, perverted, Genin living next door." she finished with a giggle before taking a sip of her sake. "Not to mention that pretty little girlfriend of yours. I see I have her to thank for finishing my job." she complained with a hand on her hip.

Naruto chuckled while rubbing the back of his head. It was something he used to do with the Hokage, when he was younger. He let out a sigh and grinned at the rookie Jonin. "Don't be like that Kaede-chan. There's still a lot you could do for me."

Kaede grinned and rubbed his head. "Of course there is Genin." she said giggling. "Say I have today off, how would you like to finally have that training match you've been bugging me about?" Kaede asked before downing the rest of her sake.

The blonde's face brightened in joy. "Okay, I have the rest of the day off as well. Just give me a few hours to take this nap and I'll meet you at training ground seven at seven." Naruto told her.

Kaede's eyes shined in mischief as she crossed her arms under her breast. "Oh yeah it's passed three, your naptime." she teased.

The blonde playfully groaned. "Don't call it that." he told her with a playful pout.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but that's what it is." she said with a giggle as she threw an arm around his shoulders. "Once you stop having naps in the middle of the day, I'll stop teasing you about it." she said before lifting his headband off his forehead and kissed it.

She placed the protector back onto his forehead and patting his shoulder blades. "Go on now, enjoy your naptime. You're going to need it later." she winked before heading towards her own apartment.

"**That's the second time, a girl's shoved you away today. Wow, it's like you're a piece of meat to them… and me." **she said in a sultry tone, that told Naruto she was also winking at him.

Naruto sighed and undid the seal to his apartment, before entering it. He bit his thumb and smeared blood on the door, making it impenetrable once again. He immediately went to work, and ten minutes later, his apartment was different.

A white sheet was on the floor, and three bright lamps were directing their gazes around it.

He was lying in the middle of the floor with a clone kneeling beside him. "Okay clone, make me proud." he said before the clone weaved through a few hand seals and sent the original blonde to sleep.

There was a medical kit near the original's head, and the clone opened it. He removed some gauze and the bag of cotton balls. He looked down at the two syringes, one labeled 'left' and the other labeled 'right'. he picked up the _left_ syringe and carefully inspected it.

Inside, was the black smoke of the left Byakugan eye. He sighed as he looked at the sharp needle point at the end of the syringe, though it was covered to prevent the smoke from escaping.

He placed it back on the sheet and did the same to the _right_ syringe. Finding both of them intact and ready for transport, he got ready to operate. He placed a surgical mask over his mouth and created another clone to be his assistant. "Okay, we have a job to do on the boss. You already know what it is, so lets get started." the lead clone told the other.

The clone had already sterilized the needles earlier so he and the clone put on their gloves. The lead clone picked up the syringe and the other clone peeled the original's eyelids back with tape, strengthened by the lead clone's chakra.

It looked nasty, seeing the blonde with his eyeballs unprotected with light shining around them. The lead clone nodded to the assistant and picked up the right Byakugan syringe. He removed the cap and used his control over the smoke to keep it in place. "Here we go." he muttered as he inched the needle point closer and closer towards Naruto's contracted pupil.

After many careful seconds the needle pierced the original's eye and continued to for another few seconds. His brow had already gained a sheen of sweat, that was immediately wiped away by the assistant.

The needle stayed in place for a few more seconds while the clone took careful breathes of air. He held his breath and pushed the smoke into the eye as slow as possible.

As the smoke began entering the eye, blood began slowly spilling from around the right eye. "Quickly, the cotton balls." the lead clone told the assistant, who quickly began to clean up the blood, freely flowing around the eye.

The lead clone watched carefully as the eye continued to be filled with smoke, the white of the sclera turning black as more smoke filled it.

A full minute passed before the syringe was empty. The entire eye was black and the smoke was moving around freely.** "Now it's my turn."** Yoko said from inside the clone's mind.

With the needle still in the blonde's pupil, Yoko channeled her chakra into it through the needle. The clone kept the needle as still as a statue, while the assistant continued to softly pat his forehead, removing the accumulating sweat and clearing up the blood leaking from the original.

A full twenty minutes passed before the eye was turned a solid black. **"Okay, place the gauze over that eye."** Yoko told the assistant clone, as the lead clone slowly removed the needle, Yoko's chakra healing up the microscopic hole.

After the square gauze was secured over the right eye, they gave the left eye the same treatment. Another thirty minutes passed as they placed the gauze over the left eye as well.

A large bundle of bloodied cotton balls was piled beside Naruto's head and the lead clone was exhausted. **"You two did an excellent job. Naruto will be very proud of you two."** Yoko praised the two clones as they began cleaning everything up.

"Thank you Yoko-sama." the lead clone said accepting her praise.

After everything was cleaned up and Naruto was placed on his bed, with black bandages wrapped around his eyes.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

An hour and a half passed before the blonde woke up. He yawned as he sat up and tried to open his eyes. He found them bound tightly.

As he reached for the bandages, he heard Yoko's warning. **"Don't. Just like with the original Byakugan eyes, your new eyes need to heal. Even more so, because of the procedure. I have to give it to Orochimaru, when it comes to these freaky kind of things, he knows his stuff."** Yoko said with an uneasy tone. It wasn't easy for her to praise Orochimaru.

"How long do I have until these eyes are ready for the light?" Naruto asked aloud.

"**Without me speeding up the process, it'll be a good four to five hours."** she answered with a thoughtful tone.

"I don't really have that much time. I don't even have to look at a clock to know it's around 6:30. What about the estimated time with you speeding up the process?" he asked as he laid back down.

"**The time drastically increases to one hour until recovery. Unless you want to cancel the training with Kaede or the date with Ino, you wont be stressed for time for whatever reason."** Yoko suggested.

Naruto shook his head. "I'm doing everything I made plans for. Including the plans you have in store for me. I'll just have to train with Kaede without my sight."

"**You want me to channel my chakra through the cursed seal to shorten the time more? If I do that, I'll have them healed in twenty minutes. "** Yoko informed in a thoughtful tone.

"That's perfect. I'm glad I'm not a civilian, otherwise, this would take a good two weeks to recover from." Naruto said as a rush of chakra began speed up the healing process in his eyes.

"**You and me both."** Yoko said happily.

"Wake me when you finish. I cant wait to see my new eyes." Naruto said before he weaved through a few hand seals and summoned a cobra. Said cobra appeared, already around his arm. "I need you to deliver a message to Orochimaru." he said to the brown snake.

"**Reccite it, and I'll sssee that it'sss delivered."** the snake hissed.

Naruto nodded before he began to think. "Tell him to summon Vivi at midnight, the forbidden scroll will be inside him. And tell him thanks for the tip. I can already feel the power these new eyes are giving me."

"**Underssstoood."** the cobra simply said before vanishing.

After the cobra left Naruto simply meditated on his back, simply embracing the feeling of his eyes.

Time flew by quickly because Yoko told him she was finished. Excited, Naruto stood to his feet and quickly walked to the bathroom. He was glad it wasn't far away, but he nearly ran into the wall by the door.

He quickly began to unravel the bandages and peeled the bloodied gauze from over his eyes. He kept them closed as he situated himself in front of the mirror.

He slowly opened them and watched his new eyes' reaction. The black in his eyes swirled and completely vanished into the entire eye was white. The reaction continued as his black pupil returned. It was his irises that surprised him. Instead of the dark blue eyes he was used to, the shade of blue lessened to that of the color of azure.

He grinned and activated, what used to be the Byakugan. Instead of the bulges accompanied with his vision being enhanced to unbelievable levels, his eyes turned into a mixture of silver and blue. "Whoa." Naruto breathed out in surprise.

"**That should fix the vein problem. That's your Byakugan, with a few added abilities."** Yoko explained.

"I don't know about the added ones, but I'm glad to see that blind spot has been fixed." Naruto said while waving his hand behind his head.

With his eyes he could see further than he used to, the distance multiplying by three. He could see clearly through the buildings in the entire village. He shortened the distance as a blush appeared on his cheeks. He focused on his neighbor below him. He could clearly see his chakra points and even the organs in his body, as well has his skeletal structure. "Hey Yoko, did you know Ken, downstairs, had a broken tibia? I can clearly see the small cracks running along the bone." Naruto asked the woman.

"**How much do you love me?"** Yoko gloated while she did a victory dance in his head.

"A lot. What else did you do to these eyes?" Naruto asked as he deactivated them, returning them to azure.

"**I gave them some sort of lock-on feature. I was thinking of your chakra bow when I did that. Even when they're not activated, you could see through illusions, mist and smoke, no matter how much there is. Also I left you a surprise for whenever you enter Level Two of your Cursed Seal."** Yoko informed the blonde who grinned wider into the mirror.

His body turned into smoke for a matter of minutes and when he solidified, his attire was changed. His previously green Gi, turned white, and his black muscle shirt remained the same. His black cargo pants, became black cargo shorts, with white flames licking the bottom. His black sandals turned into white, steel soled shoes. **Ebony** and _Ivory_ were unsealed and holstered behind his hips, in an 'X' fashion. Their seals, underneath his now white bandages, were replaced to hold shurikens.

"New clothes, new me." Naruto said with a smirk, as even the cloth for his headband changed from dark blue to white.

"**Ooh, I am digging the new look. You better be even more careful when you leave the house. The girls are going to be all over you, whether you're with Ino or not."** Yoko seductively spoke, more than liking what she saw.

"Let's do this." Naruto said clenching his bandaged fists in front of his body as his body exploded into smoke.

**A/N: I was really debating on whether or not to continue this chapter until the end of the day. But since the chapter is already longer than the previous chapters, I felt this spot was good enough.**

**Though I really feel this story is only for my benefit, since others really don't read it. And I'll continue saying that until that changes. **

**With that said, thank you for reading and I'll be waiting for your reviews.**


	6. Test Drive For New Eyes

**I know it's been a long time, but I'm sure you realized by now that I love to wait a while after updating a chapter to wait for the flush of reviews to enter my mail. Well you've already waited long enough, lets get you reading now.**

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Naruto jr. or Naruto the third…. Whoever those people are._

**Lost & Found Chapter Six: Test Drive For New Eyes**

**[Minutes From Training Ground Seven]**

Naruto felt elated as he seemingly floated over the buildings of Konoha's market district. He didn't know how better things would be with his new eyes. It was even better than the first time he tried on a new set of eyes.

He laughed as he picked up the speed and he became even more of a blur to others. It was nice to see he no longer got tunnel vision, one of the perks of these new eyes no doubt. It'll make it easier for him to go full speed now.

'These new eyes are even better than the Sharingan and Byakugan put together.' the blonde praised in his mind as the tree line entered his sights.

"**Better than them individually, but not together… close though. I did do a great job though." **Yoko said accepting the praise with a giggle.

Naruto nodded and cleared the first half dozen of trees. He landed on a branch and searched for Kaede with his new eyes. It didn't take long, which caused him to smirk widely. He immediately wondered what her reaction would be to his new eyes.

He looked at the setting sun and nodded in silent recognition. He hopped in his neighbor's direction and within seconds landed on the log to her left. "About time you got here. I was wondering if you wo-" she trailed off as she turned her head to look at the blonde. "Ooh, nice. You changed just for me?" Kaede cooed before Naruto rolled his eyes.

That made Kaede do a double take, before she grabbed Naruto's head and brought him closer. "What's up with your eyes? I don't remember them being this light." she asked before Naruto's head turned to smoke and he drifted back a few feet.

Naruto smiled and opened his eyes wider. "You like?" Naruto said as Kaede put her hands on her hips.

She narrowed her eyes and took a single step closer. "I'm not sure yet." she answered.

Naruto widened his smile, seeing the way Kaede was looking at his eyes. He knew she liked them, she didn't even have to deny it. "How about we get this fight going? I want to see what you're finally made of." Naruto said taking a stance.

The blonde's words knocked the new Jonin from her thoughts. She took out two kunai and held them in a reverse grip. "Blood and bones, like everyone else…. Well except you, since you're made of smoke." she winked as the blonde groaned.

"I'm not made of smoke, I can turn into smoke." he complained before charging the woman.

Kaede shrugged with a smile on her face. "Ehh, potato, tomato." she said before back peddling before hopping onto a tree, throwing both of her kunai in the process.

Naruto inwardly groaned again as he jumped out of the way. He extended his arms and three shuriken appeared on each side of him. He acted fast and grabbed all six of them between the fingers of each hand and threw them at the chocolate haired woman.

She dropped down from the branch and heard each of the shuriken hit not a second later. As soon as her feet touched the ground she weaved through a series of seals. **"Katon: Pirobui."** (Pyro Buoy) she muttered before exhaling little balls of fire the floated in the three feet from the ground.

There was two dozen in total and most were under Naruto's position. 'Ooh, that's interesting.' the blonde thought as he began descending. He formed a series of his own seals and held his breath. **'Futon: Daitoppa.' **(Great Breakthrough) Releasing that technique straight down, caused the blonde to be suspended in midair. It also caused the balls of fire to explode outwards.

Kaede shielded her face from the airborne embers and used chakra to stay in her position from the strong wind. The blonde landed on the ground and removed _Ivory _from her holster. "I see someone went with fire. I thought I told you to try water?" Naruto asked while she removed her arms from in front of her face.

"Sorry about that, fire just chose me first." she said before coating her feet in electricity. "Lets see how fast you are now." she said before vanishing from Naruto's sight.

The blonde's eyes widened at her speed. He knew she was fast, but seeing her moving like this really cemented that fact. Not a second later, his body was in smoke, scattered in different directions.

He quickly thinned out as Kaede stood in the middle of the field, her senses on full blast. A full minute went by before Naruto stealthily reformed in the trees. 'Lets see if she can handle this.' Naruto thought before forming the Ram seal.

Instantly shurikens erupted into the clearing from all sides. The new Jonin acted quick and quickly began evading the projectiles, but as soon as they hit the ground they caused a small explosions. She continued to dodge the, now exploding, projectiles and quickly darted through the trees.

Naruto smirked as his clones dispelled and he turned into smoke and followed his neighbor.

Kaede narrowed her eyes as she still couldn't sense Naruto. "Where could he be?" she muttered knowing he was able to effortlessly turn into sightless smoke.

Naruto stood on a branch about one hundred meters away from Kaede. He had to give her props, she sure could move fast. He activated his nameless eyes and locked on to her signature. It was suppressed but he could still see her body.

When he activated that feature of his eyes, everything became black and white and she became bright red. He smirked at that and his white bandages slowly turned into smoke. 'Lets cut her speed down.' he thought with a mental sigh of relief, before she began moving around, keeping her head on a swivel.

Naruto stood to his feet and headed back into the clearing, fully intending on cutting her off.

By the time he got there, she had just arrived. "Hello Kaede-chan, fancy meeting you here." he said before she continued at her speed and moved to punch him.

By this time, the blonde had gained a bit accustomed at her speed and was able to defend better than the Jonin expected.

After the twelfth blocked strike Kaede jumped back in thought. "I think there's a tiny detail I seemed to overlook." she said crossing her arms under her bosom.

Naruto smirked as his silvery, blue, eyes became darker because he wasn't facing the moonlight. "Sorry Kaede-chan, some things are meant to be secret." he said before raising his fist and closing it tightly.

Only then did Kaede realize that the bandages that always seemed to be wrapped around the blonde's arms, weren't there anymore. It was rather easy to learn just where they went. The feeling around both of her calves confirmed everything, as they bound her calves together.

It was lucky she wasn't on the move, or else she would've easily fell on the ground. She rose her brow at his words, while simultaneously taking out a kunai. "So if I win this spar, you have to tell me who trained you."

Now it was Naruto's turn to raise a brow. "You're a Jonin and you don't know? How I thought Hiruzen would have told all the higher ups in the village by now." Naruto said since he thought she was talking about something else… more along the lines of his eyes.

Kaede threw the kunai down at the bandages but, found that the projectile went straight through smoke. "Wow, this is completely cheating." she said playfully glaring at the blonde.

While she was glaring at the blonde, she didn't notice the shifting of motion around her calves. The bandages separated and only wrapped around one, individual calf before slightly glowing.

Naruto smiled as the job was done. "Sorry Kaede-chan. I fixed everything, so you don't have to worry anymore." Naruto said as Kaede rose an eyebrow and looked down.

She saw that they had separated and wrapped around each of her ankles. Though she felt different, more heavy. She looked at Naruto, slowly, at look of annoyance, on her face as she realized what he did. "These bandages of yours are lined with gravity seals aren't they? That would explain why you were able to block my attacks earlier." she said trying to take a step forward.

Her leg muscles weren't used to physical weight being placed on them, only the electrical current of her chakra. "I bet you aren't used to that." Naruto said with a smile as he removed **Ebony** from her holster. Just think of this as training. How fast can you move, before you get cut?" he said quickly running forward.

A surge of electrical chakra erupted from around Kaede's calves, before she jumped back, at Chunin speed. Naruto smirked as he easily followed her. With no weight around his arms, his swings were much greater. Though, Kaede, showed surprising flexibility and bent her body backwards as **Ebony **harmlessly flowed above her.

She would have tried to do a back flip and kick Naruto in the crotch or something, but she knew he would have blocked with his, now, superior speed.

She stood upright and quickly pulled out a kunai to block the blonde's rebound attack. The blonde didn't let up as he quickly clenched his free fist and swung straight for her face.

The chocolate haired Jonin quickly tilted her head and lowered it as Naruto tried to motioned to hit her in the ear. "Quickly reflexes, more than I expected really." Naruto said with a smirk as he pulled his fist back.

Kaede smiled as she strained against his onyx knife. "Of course, I've conditioned my upper body to react quickly. Gotta protect those vital organs." she said as she saw Naruto's smirk deepen.

"Well, lets see if you can move fast enough to protect this." he said throwing his fist towards the base of her throat.

He wasn't disappointed when her own free arm snatched up and grabbed his hand. "My arms are apart of my upper body." she said as she peered into his eyes and found the silver and blue mixture. "Why do your eyes keep changing?" she asked before noticing Naruto tense. Immediately she knew something was about to happen and prepared to jump back from the coming danger.

Time slowed as Naruto jumped slightly in the air. He planted his feet onto Kaede's stomach and pushed with all his strength. It was also at that moment that Kaede released his wrist and her body was flying backwards a second later. Time returned to normal as Naruto quickly took _Ivory_ from her holster and threw her at Kaede while he spun and righted himself before landing on his feet.

Kaede was surprised as the knife hastily flew by her arm, slightly cutting into it, before thudding against the tree behind her. Her body hit the thick trunk moments after it did. "Whoo, you were definitely trained by someone really strong. And for a long time too. I think it should have been you to be taking that Jonin exam." she said as Naruto's eyes returned to normal.

He smiled as he jumped closer to Kaede. "Thank you for bracing for kick. If you hadn't already been preparing to jump back, I would have felt bad if I had hurt you." he said extending his arms, as the bandages turned to smoke and quickly wrapped around his arms and reformed as bandages.

"You still hadn't answered my question. Do you have another bloodline I don't know about?" she said looking at the blonde with a pout, while he removed _Ivory _from the trunk of the tree and holstered her.

The blonde rolled his eyes at her pout. Even with their time apart, the blonde hadn't forgotten about her use of the pout technique. "I don't know why you're pouting. You know that only works about fifty percent of the time." Naruto said before looking away as he scratched his cheek. "But, if you must know, it's a gift given to me by Yoko. She gave it to me while I was taking my nap, so I was surprised myself." Naruto said as Kaede tilted her head.

The Jonin smiled and stood to her feet. "That's awesome. You think Yoko could do that to my eyes too?" she asked as Naruto shook his head.

"Sorry, Kaede-chan, but I don't think I would forgive myself if you were rid of your beautiful chocolate brown eyes." he said as she chuckled and patted him on the head.

"Well it was worth a try. But look at how you've grown, I guess I wont be learning your secret from your mouth. Well on my way to Hokage, I'm sure he'll tell me everything he knows about you." she said giggling before vanishing in a body flicker.

Naruto groaned as he shook his head. He really should have made a deal that she couldn't go to the old man. Plus he knew Kaede enough to know that after the surprise, she'll realize that it didn't really change anything. They were still friends and that was the most important thing.

Naruto caught on to his train of thought and nearly slapped himself. **"Wow, this place really has changed you."** Yoko said before Naruto blinked for a while.

Naruto chuckled a bit at her statement. 'Only a little bit. Every small change was necessary, for the completion of the goal. You know this more than anyone.' Naruto thought before his internal clock told him it was 7:35.

"**You picking Ino up at eight o'clock, which gives you twenty five minutes of free time."** Yoko informed the blonde causing him to nod his head.

The blonde nodded before some faint rustling was heard to the blonde's left. The Genin acted as if he hadn't heard, but he did activate his fused eyes and mentally shook his head. He canceled his eyes as he continued walking in a casual manner.

He dug into his pouch and silently took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He removed a cigarette and placed it between his lips. He lit it and took a long drag before exhaling the smoke towards the ground.

He smiled as he pocketed the pack and lighter and took another drag. "I love these little sticks of patience." he said looking at it before yells of surprise was heard. He exhaled with a smile and walked in the direction.

Within seconds he was crouching in front of Konohamaru, the Sandaime's grandson. He had met the boy about a month ago while he was training with **Ebony** and _Ivory_. "What do you want brat?" he asked while smothering the tip of the cigarette against the nearby tree.

Konohamaru chuckled nervously while a long gray snake was wrapped around his body. You would think, because it's body was releasing small wisps of smoke, that the young boy would be able to break free of it. Obviously you would be wrong as it was a snake born from Naruto's own chakra and made solid, thanks to the special properties of his smoke. It took the blonde a good two months before he was able to make it that way and he was proud of it.

"Didn't you learn your lesson the last time you tried to eavesdrop?" the blonde asked as he slowly formed half a ram seal with his left hand.

The young eight year old quickly shook his head in the negative, causing the blonde to smirk and pat his spiky brown hair. "That's what I thought." Naruto said standing to his feet, but keeping his smoking snake around the body. "Stop trying to spy on me. And go to sleep, it's way past your bed time." he added as the snake dispelled and Naruto vanished along with it.

Only then did Konohamaru stand to his feet. "I don't care what you say. I'll get stronger than you Naruto-nii-san!" the boy yelled as Naruto shook his head from the tree branch above the boy, before leaving for real.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

Naruto killed about eight minutes simply thinking of the situation he was presented with at the Hokage Tower.

The blonde immediately noticed a lot of Jonins were hanging around the area. It was obvious the security had been increased. And the unseen security seemed to be even more bulked. At the top of the top were four ANBU, visible and making a smaller version of the barrier surrounding Konoha.

He nearly cursed at that little detail. Inside the building were two large scrolls. It was obvious one of them were a decoy as it was filled with chakra, the other was underneath the building in a backup safe. Inside the safe were five hidden ANBU.

'Damn.' the blonde thought, noticing the room seem to be sealed tight, with only one way inside… the vault door.

Just at that moment he noticed that one of the ANBU, on the outside of the vault, opened it to let air enter the room. He smirked as that was his way in.

He canceled his eyes and stood to his feet. He was already on the Yamanaka's rooftop half a kilometer away from the Tower. The Byakugan was really an amazing Dojutsu and the enhanced version was even more so. There was no doubt that if the Uchiha clan had been entirely eradicated, Orochimaru would be resorting to the eyes of a Hyuga.

They didn't have the copying prowess the Sharingan had become famous for, but they were useful in their own way.

Naruto leapt off the roof and turned around when he landed. He knocked on the door, and it was immediately opened by Inoichi. "About time you decided to knock on the door. I was one minute away from kicking you off my roof." he said, agitated for the sole reason that Naruto was simply on his roof.

The young blonde chuckled as he bowed in apology. "Sorry Inoichi-san. I was waiting for it to be exactly eight, before knocking on the door to get Ino. We're going out to dinner tonight, since both of us became Genin recently." Naruto said as Inoichi smiled widely.

"That's alright with me boy. Although, I still don't fully approve of you two, I cant do anything because of you-know-who." he said pointing his thumb behind him.

At that moment someone cleared their throat behind the older blonde. You would think it would be his wife, Iori, standing behind him. But it was Ino herself, her arms crossed under her budding breasts and tapping her foot in annoyance at her father. The young Genin was wearing a purple dress that went to her knees. It had thick straps that went over her shoulders and flowed outward the lower it went. It had three buttons at the top and only one of them were buttoned, leaving the top two unbuttoned.

"If you're finished Tou-san, I would like to go to dinner before we miss our reservations." she said as Naruto rose a brow.

"Reservations? You did all that?" he asked as Inoichi turned and buttoned the two.

"You know I'm not letting you leave this house dressing like that." he said as Ino glared at him, but did nothing.

"Yeah, I knew you weren't. I know all about your naptimes." she said with a smirk as Naruto groaned and lowered his head.

'Does everybody know about that?' he asked in embarrassment as Yoko giggled, but said nothing.

"You take naps in the middle of the afternoon?" Inoichi asked as Naruto snapped his head up. "Is that why you cant make our sessions anymore?" he asked as Naruto chuckled and took out a small scroll about chakra.

Ino and the book switched places in an instant as Naruto wrapped a hand around her waist. "I'm taking Ino, bye." he quickly said before a whirlwind of leaves surrounded them and they disappeared.

**[Fifty Feet Away]**

The blonde duo appeared with Naruto smiling at Ino's surprised face. "How do you know a technique I see my sensei use?" she said with a raised eye.

Naruto chuckled and took her hand in his. "It's a D-ranked high speed technique, anybody could learn it. It was easy too, it literally took me five minutes to learn it… seven to master." he said flashing a wide smile in Ino's direction.

The platinum blonde rolled her eyes and unbuttoned the top two buttons of her dress. "You never did tell me how I looked?" she said flashing him a smile while putting a hand in her pony-tailed hair.

The male blonde looked at her for a few seconds before smiling. "So where are we eating?" he asked as Ino bristled at the questioned and glared at him. He chuckled and prevented Ino from hitting him. "I'm kidding, you look beautiful… as always." he said before kissing her on her cheek.

That made Ino blush slightly as she barely willed her feet to move forward. She smiled and leaned her head against Naruto's shoulder. "We're going to The Snippin' Crab. The best seafood bar Konoha has to offer." she answered with a smile.

Naruto smiled as he knew exactly where that place was. 'It's perfect that we're going there. It would prove to be the best alibi for me ever.' he thought as a stream of smoke left his back and merged into the air.

He leaned his head into Ino's as everyone who they passed, cooed at the cute couple.

**xxxL&Fxxx**

The small stream of smoke materialized itself on the roof. It was a small boy with gray hair. He had a simple black shirt with dark gray shorts. His eyes were black and his skin was pale.

One look at the boy and everyone would think he was the most innocent boy in the area. Except for the twisted smirk on his lips. That was the most alien feature on the seven year old looking boy.

He rose his hands and quickly swept them over his head as a black hood materialized over his head. "Time to go to work." he said before simply becoming sightless.

He flew through the air, it being a little difficult as he found himself going against the air current. It took him half an hour before he reached a roof around the large red tower. He was panting lightly at the energy it took to simply get there. He looked around and smiled when he noticed the smoking Jonin, Asuma.

The smoke he was exhaling would bring him just enough energy to complete the mission. The pale boy jumped into the nearest alley and made his way into the streets. He lost the hood and donned a confused look.

Asuma noticed him immediately and rose his eyebrows. "Hello little boy, where do you think you're going?" he asked as the young clone continued to look around in confusion.

After a while he looked at Asuma. "Do you know where my mommy went? She said she was going to talk to her friend about getting us a place to sleep. I don't want to sleep outside anymore." the clone said as he noticed the Jonin had blew out a stream of smoke in the other direction.

The clone mentally smiled as he had one of his hands, stealthily collecting the smoke.

Asuma looked on in worry as he frowned. "I didn't see a woman come over here. Do you know your mommy's name and I'll put out a search for her?" the man asked as the clone shook his head.

The clone frowned as he held his head with a single hand, the other being a stub. "I don't remember. This one time, momma looked at me with red eyes." he said as Asuma looked at the stub. "That's when this happened." the clone said noticing the man's eyes on his stub. I had a wood hand, but she took it and told me we needed to eat."

The story was getting to the Jonin who was becoming angry at the actions of the boy's mother. All he needed to hear was the part about the red eyes and he immediately began thinking of the Uchiha clan.

"Hey, Akimichi-san, can you get roster book of the Uchiha Clan, I want to see if this kid could point out his mother for me?" Asuma said turning to address the large male.

The large, black haired, man walked up to the son of the Sandaime. "What kid?" he asked as Asuma turned back to see that the boy was gone. "He was just here." he stated in surprise.

The man scoffed and folded his arms. "Sure there was. A kid talking about his Uchiha mother." he said sarcastically. "We both know the clan was wiped out some time ago. No survivors, save for Sasuke-san." he added before turning and returning back to his post.

Asuma narrowed his eyes as he looked at the spot the boy was only moments ago. He dropped his cigarette and smothered it before turning and walking towards the Tower, a feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him something was going to happen.

**[Vault Corridor]**

The pale clone perched himself on the roof, keeping his appearance transparent to their eyes. His skills in infiltration were unprecedented and everyone in sound knew it. It was why he was given this mission in the first place.

The clone's smirked dropped when he noticed another ANBU leaving the room. He cursed, realizing he had to wait for the next time it was opened. He needed to move to a dark corner, closer to the door. That way, he could quickly execute his plan.

He moved two feet every five minutes. His miniscule use of chakra for his smoke form might trigger the senses of the ANBU. He counted at least two directly under him and two more at the mouth of the entrance on the other side of the vault.

When he reached the door after twenty five minutes he looked back to see two people walking down the corridor. It was Asuma and his father. "Thank you son for pointing that out to me. I didn't realize I had the real scroll with me until you came and asked me to check on it." the old man said as his son carried the scroll beside him.

"I just had a feeling father. Though, it took forever for you to determine that I was actually your son, instead of a thief in disguise. I'm actually kind of hurt." the man said feigning hurt in his eyes as the two reached the door.

Hiruzen smiled and chuckled. "Cant be too careful son. Especially since the scroll was almost taken rather recently." he said before an ANBU appeared beside him. He nodded and the masked man began turning the giant wheel lock.

In the shadows, the clone watched in caution. It was faint, but the small traces coming from the scroll, definitely told that it was the decoy. Again he thanked Yoko for the new eyes before he narrowed them. The possibility of this being a ruse, them knowing that he was here preparing to steal the scroll, was undeniable.

They entered the room, closing the door for two minutes. No doubt, informing the ANBU of the situation, before the door was opened… from the inside. The clone thought it was impossible, until the dimming seal on the inside of the door completely faded from view told him how.

He narrowed his eyes when he saw a wooden geta inside the vault, before it was closed. The two Sarutobi shared small talk as they left, carrying a large scroll. A scroll with no chakra inside of it. Again he cursed himself for being so deep in enemy territory without being able to use just a little bit more chakra. He needed his eyes activated to check everything happening around him.

So, literally, for the next ten minutes he sent tiny amounts of chakra to his eyes. He did it once every three minutes and was thankful when, after they were activated, nobody reacted. He looked inside and saw that Jiraiya was inside with an oxygen tank. That wasn't the only thing though, he was also sitting with the Forbidden Scroll in his lap, waiting for him.

He was still though. His eyes were closed and some kind of chakra seemed to be seeping through the walls and into his body. It was intriguing for the blonde to be seeing this, as it was never seen before.

The clone mentally growled as he realized the predicament he was further put into. Suddenly the man's eyes snapped open, revealing horizontal pupils and thick markings under his eyes. His nose grew a bit and warts appeared on them. Then he began to speak. 'I still cant perfect this technique. How am I supposed to parade myself around the ladies with this giant nose?' the man said before wiping tears away from his sleeve.

The clone narrowed his eyes when he realized nobody was coming to open the door. Wasting his time and making it closer to when the original Naruto would be finished with his date, thus losing his alibi. They were conspiring against him, like… the clone widened his eyes. Did they know about his smoke mutation? It was possible since the original used it to spar with Kaede and subdue Konohamaru.

He cursed in his mind as he realized that he had to finish before the date was finished… hopefully, Naruto chose to walk through the village where lots of people could see him.

The clone steeled his gaze and looked for a possible opening the original might have missed. He nearly cheered when he noticed a senbon sized hole was in the far back of the vault near the floor. Then he began to think that maybe it was made there purposely.

He took the chance and slipped through the roof. He spent the next five minutes navigating through the maze like interior of the wall. Before he reached went through hole he thought about something. There had to be a reason the sage's eyes were different with that technique of his.

Orochimaru didn't know a thing about this transformation… and if he did he never hinted at it. If there was one thing he knew, it was the Sannin were a clever bunch, whether they were good, bad, or traumatized.

He was proved right when, he immediately heard words when he slithered through the hole. "It took you long enough to find that entrance, Naruto." came the voice of the toad sage.

The clone didn't say a word. Maybe if he didn't move, the Sannin would think he was mistaken.

Not even five seconds later, did Jiraiya turn his head to look right in the clone's direction. "You're after this scroll aren't you Naruto." again his name was used without any honorific. It was weird, coming from the man's mouth. "It's okay, you can show yourself. I know about your ability and that chakra is no doubt yours, even if its in the form of a _real_ clone now." he said as the clone remained in a sightless cloud of smoke.

"Fine stay in that mutated form, given to you by Orochimaru. I guess he was able to give you something unlike anything ever heard of." Jiraiya said turning his head back to the front of the bright room. "I know you're confused how I put things together with only hours between our first meeting. It was pretty easy when you collect enough information and look at it from your perspective." Jiraiya said causing the clone to raise an eyebrow as he slowly drifted around the room, awaiting the time when the entire room was covered in his chakra cloud. It became very clear that the chakra in the room was undetectable to the outside occupants, or else they would have been in here.

"It all started two years ago when you appear on the outskirts of the village, beaten and bloodied. One could easily see that entire scenario as being staged, with your allegiance with Orochimaru now free to the ANBU, Jonins and Chunins of the village. You could have been sent here for the sole purpose of blending in, in an attempt to steal the scroll and defect from the village after it was complete. Though, that wouldn't explain anything, seeing the skill you have with that technique of yours. So lets throw that out the window." Jiraiya said leaning into hand in thought.

The clone stayed silent as he continued circulating around the room, easily filling half of the room. If what the man said was true, then he shouldn't act until his chakra was easily filling the room.

"There's also another scenario I've considered." Jiraiya started once again, fully aware of the clone's spreading motion. "I've also considered that you could have attempted and barely escaped one of Orochimaru's lair and made your way here, but suffered for the treason, thus your state when you were found. Your behavior after that day could be attributed to survival. Staying in the one place the snake wouldn't return to. You couldn't change how you were raised immediately so it was slow for you to adapt back to being a happy boy with the damaged past. When we met earlier, you were filled with so much hatred, I feared you would run back to Orochimaru and talked to my sensei again. I didn't share any of my suspicions with him, since I'm sure he feels the same way deep down, but I learned of the near theft of this scroll here." Jiraiya said lightly patting the scroll as the clone's chakra fully filled the room.

"It doesn't take a genius to realize who was responsible with Mizuki's death when it became apparent that he wouldn't be able to escape. It doesn't take a genius to realize who knows the inner workings of the Yamanaka clan's mind abilities, seeing as how you had sessions but he was unable to enter your mind to really learn anything, what with the Kyuubi in there and everything." Jiraiya began to break everything down, scaring the clone with how analytical he was. It was the main reason he didn't want to cross any of the Sannin.

Growling was echoed throughout the room as the clone grew angered with the man. At the first chance, this man really needed to die. He was entirely too dangerous to the boss and his plans whilst alive.

The air in front of Jiraiya grew darker before the boy's appearance became visible. He was wrapped in a dark grey cloak and he removed the hood in a similar fashion to when he created it… only in reverse. His eyes were activated, not surprised when the man's heart retained it's steady rhythm.

"I've been to your apartment." he said cutting the clone off. The boy growled again, lot liking that that just happened. "Truly a peace of art. If it wasn't for the secondary seal on the inside keeping everyone out, I would have been able to enter solely on the blood seal." he said causing the pale clone to narrow it's eyes.

He remembered when the man rammed his arm into the boss's throat and blood was ejected because of the action. "It doesn't matter how much blood you have of my boss, once it's out of the body, the chakra is drained from it after a full hour." he said with an innocently soft voice, not uncommon with children his apparent age.

Jiraiya smiled at the boy and nodded. "Also with the fact that I would also need the Kyuubi's chakra to get into the house. With just that little detail, nobody would be able to get into his house. That must have been when this change occurred." he said indicating the clone's silvery-blue eyes. "No doubt it was derived from the Byakugan eyes you were suspected of implanting into your sockets some time ago. How they became like that, I have no idea." he said causing the clone to growl once more.

"I know what you're doing Jiraiya of the Sannin. You're stalling for time, but you and I both know that it's no longer necessary." the clone said smirking as he vanished from sight and the room in a split second.

As the clone was leaving, he kept his eye on Jiraiya who remained seated, the scroll no longer in his lap. Turning foreign objects to smoke was an easy matter, but doing it under someone's nose required finesse. It was better to start from the inside out and leave as soon as it was finished. Though, the fact that Jiraiya wasn't surprised by it, made the clone more cautious the more he nonchalantly began exiting the vault.

He floated in the air, above the Hokage Tower, having made it out of ground. The scroll was in smoke particles at the moment, but something told him to keep it that way… forever.

The clone's torso materialized and he kept the bottom half a swirling mass of light gray smoke. He looked at the smoked scroll particles and growled when he realized what was wrong with it. A distance seal, mixed with an exploding formula, further mixed with vanishing ink. All of that told him of the sheer skill the white haired Sannin had with seals, so the further he got away from Jiraiya, more ink would disappear and form the exploding formula. And when it was fully formed another few feet would ignite it and it was explode.

The clone had to give the man his props, it was genius. And if he hadn't broke it down into smoke it would have, no doubt, exploded… either in his hands or in Vivi's stomach.

Which meant the real scroll was in the Hokage's possession. Maybe it had always been in his possession.

He looked at the small smoke cloud in deep thought. If he could find the exact distance needed for it to be ready for explosion, then maybe he, the boss, could find a way to use it in a mission.

He kept it circling around his body and fully turned into smoke, before blending with the air.

He slithered into the office to see Sarutobi talking with Jiraiya and Kakashi. Hiruzen's face was blank as he listened to Jiraiya's report. The Sannin's eyes had returned to normal and his facial features were more akin to one that was frustrated, not in the blonde but in himself.

Kakashi listened on with a blank look as well, like Jiraiya, he had seen enough of Naruto's behavior and skills to deduce what the man had said. It made the most sense, the blonde was simply trying to survive and if was still in contact with the snake Sannin then it was out of his control. "Orochimaru may be sadistic, but even he has a weakness." Hiruzen said causing the two high level shinobi look to the higher level shinobi in interest.

"What could that be? I've been tracking him for more than a decade and I cant seem to think of one." Jiraiya said crossing his arms.

"That's it. His sadistic behavior is his weakness. With the way he makes his subordinates follow him out of fear, it'll make it far more easier to turn them. Only Kami knows if that's happening with Naruto-kun at this very moment." Hiruzen said as the other two nodded in agreement.

At that moment the clone quit listening and drifted to where he knew the real scroll was. His eyes were still activated so it was easy to find it. He worked fast and it was turned into smoke and he kept that particular smoke cloud away from the booby trapped smoke. 'Yeah, this is the end of this little mission.' the clone thought before rising out of the building… once again approaching the little barrier and spending the next minute and a half passing through it.

He smiled and allowed the wind to carry him to where he knew the original was at.

**[Training Ground Seven]**

The blonde duo had traveled to the training ground to relax by the memorial stone. They were there for at least twenty minutes after they had wandered around the village for a while.

By this time, Naruto was glad he had sent the clone to do that scroll mission. It wouldn't make him think of an excuse to do the mission, now he can spend more time in her company.

He was leaning against a tree with his legs crossed, with Ino between his legs and her back to him. His arms were wrapped around her waist as his head rested on her shoulder. "You know…" Ino started simply getting a grunt out of her blonde companion. "It's times like this that make me forget that I'm a kunoichi." she said leaning into his touch.

"Yeah?" Naruto simply questioned, too into the feel of her body to concentrate on her words.

"Yeah." she said slightly turning her head to kiss his cheek. "There's no missions to do. No kind of training to go through. Just you, me, and the moon." she said looking up at the crescent shaped moon.

This made the blonde male chuckle. "What's so funny?" she asked turning her head to look at him.

Naruto opened his eyes to look into hers. "You make it sound like you've been a kunoichi for a long time." he said while Ino continued looking at his eyes.

"I still cant get over the fact that your eyes grew lighter. I miss the darker blue you once had." she said pouting a bit, causing Naruto to blink a few times.

"Sorry Ino, but once I figure out what happened to them, you'll be the first one to know." he said puckering his lips for a kiss.

The pupil-less Yamanaka looked at the Uzumaki's lips in thought. She knew that he would tell her when he wanted, but that didn't mean that she was a patient girl. Though now that they were a couple, delving into his mind would indefinitely do more damage than intended.

She smiled at him and kissed him on the lips. Naruto returned the kiss and squeezed her a bit. He opened his eyes when he sensed his clone returning to his back. He also felt control over the two scrolls and mentally nodded when the memories of the clone entered his mind.

The real forbidden scroll melded into his right arm while the fake scroll split into two separate clouds and melded into each individual foot. "What was that?" Ino asked, breaking the kiss, after feeling a breeze go through her dress.

The male blonde feigned a confused look. "What was what?" he asked as Ino looked at her moving dressing, still feeling the breeze.

She sighed in realization when it was simply a breeze blowing through the forest. She looked back at the whiskered blonde and shook her head. "Nothing." she said resuming their kiss.

Naruto smiled into the kiss, while his eyes turned silvery-blue underneath his lids. Just like he sensed half an hour earlier, Hinata was still watching him from about three hundred meters away.

From the looks of things, she was fidgeting with her shuriken holster, most likely finding this annoying in her eyes.

Naruto thought back to that morning when she threatened to tell Ino about Yoko. Something he's been thinking about the entire time they were together this night. If he showed her and Yoko was being Yoko, then she might get angry at him for having such a sexy girl in his mind. But if Yoko was in her demonic form, she might become afraid of him and actively begin avoiding him.

Like every time he began to think about that, Ino quickly picked up on his feelings. "Okay, what is with you tonight?" she asked, breaking the kiss and holding his chin.

Naruto opened his eyes, deactivating his eyes in the process. "What do you mean?" he asked covering her hand with his, but not moving it.

Ino pursed her lips. "This entire night, I've noticed you've been retreating into yourself. Don't you like spending time with me?" she pouted, letting go of his chin, but Naruto continued to hold onto her hand.

This was it. Does he tell her about his container and brace for one of his deepest fears? Or does he lie to her face and make things worse for when she inevitably discovers everything about him?

**A/N: First off, I would like to apologize for this cliffhanger. Secondly, I would ask that you don't flame me for it. And third, do you think Hinata is jealous or truly annoyed.**

**Make sure you tell me how you felt in a review. Thank you for reading this chapter, the last chapters, and (hopefully) future chapters. Also I would like to apologize for the lateness. I have no excuse for this and I'll try to update my stories faster… unless I get something other than my 360 to distract me. Until next time.**

**PEACE!**


End file.
